FFTA2 First Impressions? [Archive] - Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums

Dragonsoul

06-25-2008, 09:24 AM

I haven't played Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for GBA, I wonder how I'll react to the laws in this sequel. I have played an hour and a half of Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift so far. Here are my first impressions...

Graphics:
I haven't seen any full motion videos yet, so I can't comment on that part, but they should have had one or two already! The characters and the backgrounds are pretty good so far, although not necessarily breathtaking, we'll see how it goes in the future. I prefer the graphics of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions and Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings a bit more than this so far. I haven't seen a ton of various attacks yet, so I can't comment too much about the special effects. But the Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder spells weren't as exciting as I want though, we'll see how the next spells look like. The menus are kinda good but nothing super exciting either.

Music/Sound:
The music is kinda good or good, but nothing too memorable from most of the songs I've heard so far, except for The Ozmone Plain song they used from Final Fantasy XII. Sound Effects I don't focus too much on, they are probably good enough though.

Controls:
The camera system in Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is better. In Final Fantasy Tactics A2 you can't rotate the map, zoom in or out, or tilt the map. The rest of the controls seem good so far.

Battle System:
So far the battle system seems great, but I don't know a ton of information about it yet after the first 90 minutes. It looks to be great, but I'm not sure yet how it will compare to it's primary competitor, which is Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. Also, I don't remember seeing a way to access a "turn order" listing in the battles.

Story:
So far the story is kinda good, but nothing really interesting. There needs to be more characters added and I usually prefer something more dramatic also. I'm 90 minutes into the game and the goals for the story aren't as concrete and laid out as I seem to prefer.

Characters:
So far we only have two characters introduced, main ones I mean. I want more information about these characters, I don't think we got enough yet. They seem good so far, but they aren't super special so far.

Length/Side quests:
I'm early in the game, but I'm told that the game has over 300 missions/errands you can run, which is great! I hope that they don't take forever and that they give you great rewards and are truly fun enough to be worth the effort. I also hope that there are other side quests to do also, and that the side quests aren't so long that it detracts from playing the game. I'm not sure what the length is but I hope that it's at least 30 hours.

That's my short first impression after playing the first 90 minutes of Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift. In short, the game is pretty good so far, but nothing super special yet along the lines of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions(10/10) and Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings(9.5/10). My rating for the first 90 minutes of the game is a 8/10, which means that the final rating for the game probably will be around there as well. We'll see how it goes! Oh and this game is right about as good as Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. I'm playing that game right now and it's on track for a 8/10 rating. It's Square Enix's other big game in the first half of 2008. The main competitors to Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift are: Disgaea 2, Jeanne D'Arc, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, and Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. The general consensus among the gaming community is probably going to be that this game isn't as good as Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions but that this game ranks right up there and competes with all the other top recent tactical rpg's I listed. I'm really excited about Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift! I hope it turns out to be great! :)!!!

Krelian

06-25-2008, 09:33 AM

I'm still not sure if I should give it a try or not. I hated the laws in FFTA and they're still there. Oh well, I'll think about it.

Arc_Master_14

06-25-2008, 08:41 PM

that is lie the laws are completley different now. if u dont break it you get a proze if u break it it makes the battle a bit more difficult because you cant revive dead peoples

Roto13

06-25-2008, 11:55 PM

The music is kinda good or good, but nothing too memorable from most of the songs I've heard so far, except for The Ozmone Plain song they used from Final Fantasy XII.

That song was used in FFTA before it was used in FF XII.

I got it today and I've played it for about an hour and a half. So far it seems like FFTA only better, which works for me. I loved FFTA. Next step, looking up a list of jobs online. :P

Yar

06-26-2008, 12:11 AM

I got it today and I've played it for about an hour and a half. So far it seems like FFTA only better, which works for me. I loved FFTA. Next step, looking up a list of jobs online. :P

Amen to that. It seems I am the only one who prefers TA to Tactics. Maybe that is now false?

Roto13

06-26-2008, 12:32 AM

I prefer FFTA to FFT. xP

ljkkjlcm9

06-26-2008, 02:38 AM

I also prefer TA to tactics... as for a list of jobs online...
ffta2 wiki / JobRequirement (http://ffta2.pbwiki.com/JobRequirement)

job requirements... if you go back to the main page there, there's some other useful info. It's relatively new, so still growing, but the requirements for each job is complete.

THE JACKEL

Dragonsoul

06-26-2008, 04:56 AM

Cool! Three people here prefer Final Fantasy Tactics Advance to Final Fantasy Tactics, but are you referencing the PS 1 or PSP version of Final Fantasy Tactics? Also, you're talking about Final Fantasy Tactics Advance not Final Fantasy Tactics A2 right?

I've been looking forward to this game for months, it's great so far, but it's not as legendary as I hoped(as FF XII(9/10), FF XII: RW(9.5/10), and Alundra 1(9/10) were for me). I hope that I enjoy this game a lot. I am playing more of FF VII: CC right now though.

Roto13

06-26-2008, 06:26 AM

The PS1 and PSP versions of FFT really aren't different enough to e talked about like they're different games. :P

I played it some more. I'm kind of amazed at how fast time flies when I'm playing this game. I start playing for a little while and before I know it it's an hour later. xD

The Watcher

06-26-2008, 07:41 AM

with 12 hours in, i've been through quite a thrill.

I like the bazaar system quite nicely. "Looting" your way to better items, and at the same time, classes, makes killing everything and taking on numerous quests all more important.
Also, i believe that in the bazaar, if you have a yellow/orange dot next to the title, you have all the ingredients; if its a check, it means you made all the items you can with a level of ingredients?

While laws were annoying in the past game, at least they were avoidable by walking around for a few days. Here, it seems they have nixed it. While it can be awkward at times )no hitting from the back, for example) I like how it makes you see the situation in different perspective.

Also, exp at the end of the match i VERY much enjoy, because i like the idea of rewarding people to the effort of the cause, not giving them 1 1/10th boost to the next level, just because they cast cure to heal 2 hp.

The MVP "tower" also encourages me to really utilize everyone to thier maximum potential, as i have discovered you can have multiple people gain an MVP award in a battle, I believe you can see the "contribution" of the unit by the bar on the right side of thier info screen during battle.

Really like how they have the MVP relating to dispatch quests.

This time around, i actually feel like im doing something of more variety, no longer just killing enemies but defending, picking ingredients, deliveries...adds a whole new level of immersion.

Now, i might just play slow, and only did about 6-9 "main quests" but for others, have you picked up any of the new races? 12 hours I still have my starting 6 +1 story character.

Finally, I'm kinda neutral about having to "unlock" classes, such as beastmaster and dragoon. While it gives satisfaction that you have to work for it, with a little story in the background im still up in the air.

Krelian

06-26-2008, 08:06 AM

Hm, the game sounds interesting. Maybe I'll give it a try after all.

ljkkjlcm9

06-26-2008, 08:53 PM

I like the bazaar system quite nicely. "Looting" your way to better items, and at the same time, classes, makes killing everything and taking on numerous quests all more important.
Also, i believe that in the bazaar, if you have a yellow/orange dot next to the title, you have all the ingredients; if its a check, it means you made all the items you can with a level of ingredients?

The bazaar system is one of my more favored thing as well. I figure they won't make it so you can either get this item, or that item, so I make one of everything as soon as I have the ingredients for it. A circle means you have the ingredients for it, whether you've already gotten the item for that rank or not. AKA, if you've made it, and still have the mats for it, you'll still have a circle. It'll tell you what the item is before you finalize the trade in, so it's no worries about making an item more than once. The check means you've already made that item for that rank. I just wonder if there are multiple weapons of the same category for a given rank. I suppose when I get more materials, I shall find out!

Now to head to work

THE JACKEL

Roto13

06-26-2008, 09:56 PM

I just wonder if there are multiple weapons of the same category for a given rank.

Yes. I made two different E-ranked Fire weapons. I made one and there was still a dot there instead of a check mark so I tried a different combination and got another one. Then it changed to a check mark.

I just realized that you don't actually have to dispatch your clan members for the dispatch missions this time. You can just do them yourself. This really adds a lot to the game. I didn't like the dispatch missions before.

Yar

06-26-2008, 11:17 PM

I liked dispatch missions simply because it was a way to gain AP without really doing anything. Typically, dispatch missions could be solved by merely walking.

Roto13

06-26-2008, 11:25 PM

That's not fun, though. :P

But if that's your preference, you can still do it that way. Though it does seem to be harder that way now. And you send out, like, six people for a mission a lot of the time. Which gets them all AP and EXP, so that's not so bad.

ljkkjlcm9

06-27-2008, 04:40 AM

One really nice thing is people that don't fight still get AP. Therefore you can get AP and newer classes for people without leveling them, and level them in the classes you want them to be good in. Basically, my main character won't be one of my best characters, but still pretty good.

I don't ever dispatch, I'd rather do every mission, even those where you just show up and give them an item. I want more story!

THE JACKEL

Dragonsoul

06-27-2008, 08:09 AM

I hope the team who ported Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions ports Vagrant Story. Oh and somebody should port Chrono Trigger(with Radical Dreamers as a bonus this time!) to DS. :D

Roto13

06-27-2008, 05:12 PM

Hey, I found a complaint!

There aren't enough abilities early on. And I've been playing for like six hours and I only have one job that wasn't in TA. :P And no new recruits. I think that has something to do with your title from the Clan challenges or whatever they're called.

I'm still having a hell of a time with it, though.

The Watcher

06-27-2008, 07:22 PM

I think that i adressed that in my earlier post.

Early on especially, your limited by what you can make at the bazaar. Keep switchin around the classes when you lovely class runs out of abilities, since everyone has something useful (all humes and moogles should thieve in thier free time XP)

As far as party size, i have doubled mine in the past, 3-4 hours. It gets easier when you get to the Auctions in the story, depending on how quickly you play. It took me 11 hours to get there, but i do alot of frivolous things.

Also, there are missions that will add a clan mate whose race is determined on the month. Got a Bangaa and moogle from that quest alone. Its repeatable thank god ^^

Roto13

06-27-2008, 08:56 PM

I don't want to switch my jobs unless it's between similar classes. If my soldier levels up as a thief, he gets nasty thief stat growth for that level instead of soldier stat growth. :P Speed instead of power and all that.

qwertysaur

06-27-2008, 10:18 PM

I got my first new race unit! A random Seeq came up to me and joined my clan. :p

The Watcher

06-27-2008, 11:27 PM

But Roto, thats only if you use him in battle XP

Im still trying to get used to the fact that everyone gets AP now, regardless of battle, kinda making it weird on me.

As far as stat growths and all, im not too worried about them the first time around, I'll still beat the game anyways.

To qwerty: Nice! Now if i could only find one >< I got alot of abilities for the new classes and races, but no takers :/

Roto13

06-27-2008, 11:51 PM

I only have 7 characters so I use six of them in battle. :P

Skyblade

06-28-2008, 01:07 AM

Truthfully, I'm a bit disappointed in the game so far. It has some good points, but it made a lot of unnecessary changes that didn't improve the game.

The removal of numerical AP. You can't easily track a character's AP gaining any more. Instead of listing how much AP you have towards an ability, you just get a bar showing how far along you are. Unless you want to keep track of how much AP you get for each mission on your own, you can't accurately track your AP gains. Why?

The new Exp system. I have no clue how the hell this thing works. The Exp seems to have little to no correlation to participation in battle, and the MVP system is so random it hurts. Most battles have no MVP at all, and those that do are often awarded to the less active characters in the battle.

The removal of location icons. The new area/location system is fine. I don't mind losing the Area Search feature. But why couldn't they give every area an icon? I find the world a lot less interesting when the entire thing is a bunch of identical blank circles.

The quest report. It looks like a total disorganized mess. The lines connecting quests seem to have little relation to the quests that they are connecting, with the exception of the primary quest chain (which seems to be very short, only 20 missions if it just goes from one corner to the other as it appears to be doing). It's nice that we can now track when a quest can be redone, but I'd really like to see some logic in the quest report screen. Hopefully it will clear up more as I go along.

The removal (or delay) of random battles. The second plot mission in FFTA unlocked the clan wars and the random wandering battles. I've done six missions so far, still no random combat (or new characters, besides Adelle) to be seen. Given that it seems that the area travel system was designed to let people bypass unwanted fights by going from area to area, instead of location to location, I'm curious as to why in the world there is no random combat to be seen as of yet.

The bazaar system. Actually, I really like the idea behind the bazaar system. Letting people see what they need to get the new items and letting those new items be unlocked for purchase instead of just getting one and then having to collect all the items again is great. But the system has become very, very unbalanced. I have several extra weapons that can't be used, and I have several classes that are still at their starter equipment. I have yet to find any way in this new system to get new abilities for my Black Mage, and my White Mage has only just acquired his second weapon, and it is Cura! What the heck happened to Shell and Protect?! FFTA may have had some problems with getting weapons, but at least the self-upgrading shops allowed you to give most of your classes some improvement on gear.

Then there's the laws. I think the new implementation of the law system really works. It's not without errors though. First, there is no difficulty curve on the laws, as there was in FFTA. Early on in the game, you can get hit with a ton of really painful ones that you have almost no way around. Then there's the law announcements. At the beginning of every fight, you get told what the law is. That would've been quite welcome in the original FFTA. But, in this game, the laws are constantly displayed on the top screen during the fight. So what's the point? You can check them any time you want, the display at the start of the fight is just pointless time wasting.

And finally, there's the new battle system. Instead of having accuracy based on which way the enemy is facing, that determines damage instead. I think this had a slight negative effect on basic combat, but more than that it really killed status effects. While the accuracy rate of basic attacks has skyrocketed, hitting enemies with status moves has become much, much harder, as you no longer get a boost when hitting from the side or from behind. Add to that a rumor I heard that Concentrate has been nerfed, and I am very worried that status effects will wind up nowhere near as useful as they were in the original.

All in all, it's a decent game, but not as good as it could have been.

qwertysaur

06-28-2008, 01:40 AM

They took shell and protect out of white magic. Now they are in green magic instead.

Skyblade

06-28-2008, 01:42 AM

They took shell and protect out of white magic. Now they are in green magic instead.

And that is supposedly a good change?

The Watcher

06-28-2008, 01:47 AM

It makes more sense, at the very least.
In making these games linked, (FFXII + Revenant wings, FFTA + FFTA2, and one other that i forget at the moment) I believe the developers wanted to have different aspects of the games merge into one another. Hence we have the FFTA races in FFXII, the bazaar system from FFXII into this game, and other things as well.

Back to my point, white magic as we all know is about restorative magic, be that healing or reviving. While protect and shell kinda fit in that category, they fit better in the green magic of buffing and protecting your guys while debuffing the enemy.

Skyblade

06-28-2008, 01:50 AM

Yeah, but it leaves the White Magic class with fewer abilities and with quite a gap between their basic ability and any newer ones. I don't mind the restructuring, as long as things stay balanced. They are very unbalanced right now.

qwertysaur

06-28-2008, 02:52 AM

I got a Gria to join my clan! To get more members you have to go to the right area during a specific time of the year.

I love that there are so many references to other Ivalice games, like the librarian in the beginning is named after Mewt. (There is even a bear on one of the desks) Also gabranth's helmet is in Leezaford's cottage.

Roto13

06-28-2008, 05:35 AM

The removal of numerical AP. You can't easily track a character's AP gaining any more. Instead of listing how much AP you have towards an ability, you just get a bar showing how far along you are. Unless you want to keep track of how much AP you get for each mission on your own, you can't accurately track your AP gains. Why?

Does it matter? You get whatever AP you get. You have a general idea of how much you need to finish learning an ability.

The new Exp system. I have no clue how the hell this thing works. The Exp seems to have little to no correlation to participation in battle, and the MVP system is so random it hurts. Most battles have no MVP at all, and those that do are often awarded to the less active characters in the battle.

I'm pretty sure the exact opposite of that is true.

The removal of location icons. The new area/location system is fine. I don't mind losing the Area Search feature. But why couldn't they give every area an icon? I find the world a lot less interesting when the entire thing is a bunch of identical blank circles.

Nitpick much?

The removal (or delay) of random battles. The second plot mission in FFTA unlocked the clan wars and the random wandering battles. I've done six missions so far, still no random combat (or new characters, besides Adelle) to be seen. Given that it seems that the area travel system was designed to let people bypass unwanted fights by going from area to area, instead of location to location, I'm curious as to why in the world there is no random combat to be seen as of yet.

It comes around the same time as the "Auction" system comes into play.

The bazaar system. Actually, I really like the idea behind the bazaar system. Letting people see what they need to get the new items and letting those new items be unlocked for purchase instead of just getting one and then having to collect all the items again is great. But the system has become very, very unbalanced. I have several extra weapons that can't be used, and I have several classes that are still at their starter equipment. I have yet to find any way in this new system to get new abilities for my Black Mage, and my White Mage has only just acquired his second weapon, and it is Cura!

It's too early for your to have second level black magic yet. You might as well complain that you don't have Ultima.

What the heck happened to Shell and Protect?!

Green Mages learn them. That's what Green Mages do. Status magic.

FFTA may have had some problems with getting weapons, but at least the self-upgrading shops allowed you to give most of your classes some improvement on gear.

Getting better loot from battle as you progress isn't that different from finding new items in the store as you progres. Except now you pick which types of equipment to add to the store.

Then there's the laws. I think the new implementation of the law system really works. It's not without errors though. First, there is no difficulty curve on the laws, as there was in FFTA. Early on in the game, you can get hit with a ton of really painful ones that you have almost no way around.

I'm fairly certain the laws are pre-set for each quest so they're always the same. At least, that's been my experience. And if a law is giving you trouble, don't follow it. The penalty isn't that bad. Just a few pieces of loot at the end of the fight and a few bonuses during the match.

Then there's the law announcements. At the beginning of every fight, you get told what the law is. That would've been quite welcome in the original FFTA. But, in this game, the laws are constantly displayed on the top screen during the fight. So what's the point? You can check them any time you want, the display at the start of the fight is just pointless time wasting.

Yeah, you're definitely just nitpicking here. The one second at the beginning of the match isn't going to kill you. Especially since it's not pointless at all because it actually explains the law in greater detail. If you want to complain about time wasting, complain about the fact that it takes a lot longer for basic actions to take place.

And finally, there's the new battle system. Instead of having accuracy based on which way the enemy is facing, that determines damage instead. I think this had a slight negative effect on basic combat, but more than that it really killed status effects. While the accuracy rate of basic attacks has skyrocketed, hitting enemies with status moves has become much, much harder, as you no longer get a boost when hitting from the side or from behind.

Everything is still more accurate from the sides and from behind. It's just that now the odds are good for attacks from the front, too. I haven't even noticed any change in status effect magic accuracy.

The Watcher

06-28-2008, 07:29 AM

One thing to add to Roto's last comment.

One thing that i like about the game now is that you are no longer royally screwed if your blinded. Sure, your hit % goes down 2 dozen points or so, but its not nearly as unforgivable as the first.

Roto13

06-29-2008, 06:14 AM

I'm 16 hours in and I've done 43 quests. There's something like 400 of them in the game, iirc, and most of them actually involve doing stuff. This may very well end up being the longest game I've ever played. xP

Zeromus_X

06-29-2008, 07:01 AM

I just started it yesterday. I almost died on the first battle, didn't know the giant chicken would run away after you did enough damage to it. x_O; I'm glad I picked Normal mode.

I like the streamlined menus (although I guess two screens is somewhat to thank for this). Everything you'd want to know is at least one button away.

Skyblade

06-30-2008, 05:59 PM

I know I was nitpicking much, but most of those things were problems that the original FFTA didn't have. They made changes for no reason at all. The problems may be small, but since the last game didn't have them, this game shouldn't either. If it's not broke, why fix it?

My comments on the MVP being given randomly were a result of two battles in which MVP was awarded to my Viera archer. Given that your Viera teammate has the base stats of a White Mage, my archer had very low attack for a physical attack class. She got in four turns, two times she used Focus, and two times she attacked. Her attacks did less damage than my Bangaa or Luso, even with Focus, and she didn't finish any enemies off. Yet she gets MVP, instead of either my mage, who did far more damage than anyone else on the team thanks to AoE, or Luso, who wound up finishing off the most enemies. I finally figured out how the experience system works, but the MVP system still seems a little random to me.

One other problem I've noticed since my last post: The character turn order is really screwy. It will frequently indicate a character is going to move twice in a row, once for their move, and once for their attack. It doesn't always do this, so you can't even count on it when planning ahead. At times when you're in a mission facing 3-4 of the same enemy, it makes trying to figure out the turn order impossible.

Still, it's a fun game, and I'm enjoying it.

Roto13

06-30-2008, 07:24 PM

Yeah, the turn order isn't very accurate if you don't take a lot of actions with a character. That is kind of a pain. Saying facing several of the same enemy makes it impossible to figure out turn order is a pretty big exaggeration, though. You can cycle through them with L or R. It's still a big step up from the other Tactics games.

Skyblade

06-30-2008, 10:53 PM

Oh, one other thing. What the heck did they do to Beastmasters? The control abilities now don't control an enemy. They allow you to use a single ability that the enemy has. You can't move them, and it doesn't prevent that enemy from attacking you for a turn the way it did in FFTA. Except for training Blue Mages, I am seeing no purpose for Beastmasters now.

ljkkjlcm9

06-30-2008, 11:23 PM

the purpose of Beast Master is that you need to master one ability to unlock Sage... lol

honestly with the new way MP works, I find Nu Mou's in general to be a waste of space. Especially with two brand new races.

THE JACKEL

Skyblade

06-30-2008, 11:44 PM

Yeah, starting with no MP is a pain, and I shudder to think what it will do to Last Breath, Rockseal, and the Ultimas. On the other hand, the regen rate of 10 per turn instead of FFTA's 5 per turn means that faster classes will regen more and might be more use in longer fights. I can keep my Assassins invisible and just have them wait to regen their MP until they are ready to strike.

qwertysaur

07-01-2008, 02:34 AM

Nu Mou do have a really interesting new job. Scholar. They can give random buffs to a target, and they can also deal damage to everyone.

Red mages are great for casting buffs, with both shell and protect available to them.

The bard class is great for a supplamentery ability. Soul etude is like a free Cura and esuna at the same time. Shame it's exclusive to Hurdy

The new MP system makes half MP a must for you mages.

Beastmaster is only good for getting blue magic.

Seeq have some interesting jobs. the berserker can raise their evasion and do massive damage. Rangers set traps around the battlefield, and if you stop on one instead of an action the trap harms you. You should have the libra clan privilage when fighting an enemy ranger, because the traps can kill you vrey quickly. vikings can steal stuff and use thunder magic.

Gria only come with the hunter job, but they can fly. I got mine outside of Floirgis, so look there to find one.

This is a great game.:p

The Watcher

07-01-2008, 04:07 AM

What I have found about MVP is pretty much what Sky is saying; my Viera and Moogle both have 3-5 pieces of MVP towerness while the rest have 2 or less. Heck, one is a red-mage/white mage and the other is a thief, so not doing as much.

Turn order, I first thought as "ghost" image of a charachter sometimes. Now I know that it is the place that the charachter will end up without doing anything. Not really helpful, but not really hindering either. But I agree with Roto, it is a large step for any tatical game i have played. Really been getting my manuevers pulled off nicely with that addition.

Beastmasters, I also noticed that changed. Meh, I only ever used them to up my Blue Mage, so indiffrence from here.

Really, I haven't seen much hindrance from the new MP system. Usually my mages aren't close enough to the enemy anyways (safely, i mean) until they have 20-30 MP. I guess they put it in so you couldn't just Illusionist it up like crazy from the start for an easy win?

Lastly, I found an easy way for Bazaar items, with little impact on your charachters. As long as you want to put in some time, just do the Clan Trials! You get clan privileges at every other rank (1,3,5) so what I did is just get all the clan priviliges that i could as soon as i could, (got about 10) and it opened up a ton of items for me. Might of just gotten lucky, but it might help some people out.

qwertysaur

07-01-2008, 05:49 AM

I've gotten a bunch of the "secret" jobs that need to be unlocked. Here are the missions that give them.

Green Dominion - Green Mage (Viera)
Kyrra, Dragoon - Dragoon (Bangaa)
Knowing the Beast - Beastmaster (Nu Mou)
The Goug Consortium - Fuisler (Moogle) (Fuisler is Gunner)
Veis, assassin - Assassin (Viera)
To be a Fighter - Fighter (Hume)
Of Kupos and Cannons - Flintlock (Moogle)
Popocho's Chocobo's - Chocobo Knight (Moogle) (Three Part Mission)
The Eastwach - Parivir (Hume) (Parivir is Samurai)
Lord Grayrl - Viking (Seeq)
Banbanga - Master Monk (Bangaa)
The Cats Meow - Seer (Hume)
The Bangaa Brotherhood - Canoneer (Bangaa)
The Nu Mou Nobles - Arcanist (Nu Mou)
To be a Spellblade - Spellblade (Viera)
Sleight of Hand - Trickster (Bangaa)

I want more gria jobs!

ljkkjlcm9

07-01-2008, 07:10 PM

I don't care for Blue Mages, I only want one human on my team and I prefer them to be something of a Samurai/Hunter combo.
My final team will probably be like
Bangaa, Gria, Human, Moogle, Viera and the last is up for grabs. Probably a Nu Mou because I need some more Magic... but my Viera will be a Green Mage with White Mage abilities, and so my Nu Mou will probably be pure attack magic. Moogle will be something like Moogle Knight/Chocobo Knight, Human I already said, Bangaa, I'm not too sure yet, but I love how they're so strong and hard hitting. And Gria purely because they can fly lol

THE JACKEL

Skyblade

07-01-2008, 09:08 PM

I found a list of Blue Mage abilities.

They removed LV ? S-Flare. That means my perfect strategy no longer works. Pity.

They also removed LV 3 Def-Less, so there are now no level based Blue Magics. I wonder if they did this to avoid the problem of having some characters unable to get the abilities (ie: you get a new level 50 human in FFTA, they can never learn LV 3 Def-Less). Of course, since the new level max is 99, any character would be able to learn it anyway, even if you got them at level 99, but still, it's making me wonder if we are going to avoid the terrible problem of the limited time skills (Goblin Punch and Dragon Force would no longer be obtainable after completing certain missions).

Markus. D

07-02-2008, 01:57 AM

theandychrist

07-02-2008, 04:10 AM

I'm a huge FFT/FFTA fan, haven't had much time to play the new one because I work.

Just wondering, what difficulty are you guys playing this game on? I started a file and thought "Well since I do just fine in FFT and FFTA I guess I'll start on hard, normal sounds boring."

So it IS pretty hard. The antlion boss just ANNIHILATED me. The one in the pearl hunting mission.

Dragonsoul

07-02-2008, 04:22 AM

Hehe, I have been a little busy with other stuff so I haven't played much of this game, I need to get around to it. Anyways, I noticed the strategy guide isn't out yet. Oh well, I still have 30 hours left in Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core!

Do you think Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is better than Final Fantasy Tactics Advance? :D

tailz

07-02-2008, 09:35 AM

been now playing the game for 2 to 3 hours. cant say i dislike it but...

i'm verry disapointed with the lack of links to the old ffta world. the only link i have found was mr randell from the library verry probably being mewt.

I feel they tried to link the game more to FFXII ivalice then to FFTA ivalice.

back to the point of mewt our library guy. I find it strange that he left the book wide open. it makes me think that he went back to ivalice. i have no evidence of this but maybe the mess in the library has been made by the book when mewt used it.

well thats it for now.

Skyblade

07-02-2008, 03:24 PM

The book was closed when Luso first enters the library, tailz.

Roto13

07-02-2008, 04:55 PM

Do you think Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is better than Final Fantasy Tactics Advance? :D

Without a doubt.

qwertysaur

07-02-2008, 06:00 PM

tailz

07-02-2008, 07:13 PM

The book was closed when Luso first enters the library, tailz.

damnit.

hoping i'd get to see at least one of the original cast.

Roto13

07-02-2008, 07:32 PM

Montblanc and Nono are there.

theandychrist

07-02-2008, 10:10 PM

Do you think Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is better than Final Fantasy Tactics Advance? :D
Yes.

I'm a huge FFT/FFTA fan, haven't had much time to play the new one because I work.

Just wondering, what difficulty are you guys playing this game on? I started a file and thought "Well since I do just fine in FFT and FFTA I guess I'll start on hard, normal sounds boring."

So it IS pretty hard. The antlion boss just ANNIHILATED me. The one in the pearl hunting mission.
I'm on normal and yes, that was a hard mission. I ended up with two of my units reviving and healing throughout the mission, and I ignored the two smaller spiders.

I'm on the first fight with Illia and she killed two of my units on the first turn. The hard part is she seals your judge when the battle starts, so no reviving people.:(

I guess I'll just have to drop everything and start levelling up like MAD. I'm just having ONE problem. I can't find a damn battle, i wandered from area to area (yes I actually went INTO one area, walked through it, to the little blue arrows, then into the next area.) and haven't found a single battle. I have to accept quess from the pub if I want any action. :| This is going to be tedious and cumbersome.

Montblanc and Nono are there.

If you go to the "official" website and view the characters page, it lists them, and a few others...

BTW nice avatar.

ljkkjlcm9

07-02-2008, 10:12 PM

theandychrist

07-03-2008, 03:31 AM

I'm playing on Hard, and it's just plain brutal at times. I'm hoping it gets easier when I can do some free missions and level my characters. Right now I basically have crappy skills, crappy jobs, and low levels, because I have no random free missions to do, like random monster hunts or whatever.

THE JACKAL

I know, it's not giving me ANY chance to develop my team, I have almost NOTHING to work with, and the laws only apply to you! If you start a match and the law is "NO HP RESTORATION" I'm fucked because the enemy can heal themselves and I can't. :|

I just did a clan trial... The law was "No missing." I was like OH HELL NO. The enemy team was 6 fairies. FAIRIES. I had my white monk attack one from the side, he misses. The judge abandons me. The fairies ended up being pushovers though.

Also, at about 43 quests, the pubs don't have any more! I can't find a single one... I'm like... Completely screwed right now. :|

Still enjoying the game though. : p

I haven't found a seeq or a gria to join my clan, any ideas where/when I might be able to find one? I'd like to see what the new races are all about. I'm EXTREMELY pleased that a random red mage just joined my party, red mage is my FAVORITE class.

Roto13

07-03-2008, 04:36 AM

ljkkjlcm9

07-03-2008, 07:24 AM

Seeq and Gria characters are incredibly rare. I've gotten two Seeqs and zero Gria. Apparently, though, the Seeqs appear more in the first continent and the Gria appear more in the second one, which explains why I haven't found one yet. I just got there.

need help getting Gria?
For basic Gria units, you cannot recruit them until you get to the new continent, i.e. after the airship quest. Even though they appear in Zedlei Forest, these are the ADVANCED Gria classes; you cannot get them because you don't have a Gria yet, and those classes are (assumedly) still locked.

Gria - Emberleaf, Plumfrost
Fluorgis - Hunter, Raptor
Zedlei Forest - Ravager, Geomancer

For the mission it needs to be in the same months of Emberleaf and Plumfrost
when you do the mission you get asked 4 questions
Seeq/Gria
AAAA Raptor
AAAB Viking
AABA Raptor
AABB Viking
ABAA Lanista
ABAB Lanista
ABBA Geomancer
ABBB Geomancer
BAAA Berserker
BAAB Ravager
BABA Berserker
BABB Ravager
BBAA Ranger
BBAB Ranger
BBBA Hunter
BBBB Hunter

there, that should help. Oh and you can only get jobs you've already unlocked yourself.

THE JACKEL

Dragonsoul

07-03-2008, 10:03 AM

Roto13

07-03-2008, 03:39 PM

A lot of the music is from FFTA, but that's ok because a lot of everything is from FFTA. :P The new stuff is great, though.

Skyblade

07-03-2008, 07:17 PM

I played a bit more tonight. I got to see the introduction of Adelle, the main female character. The reception on the forums for this game is pretty good. Anybody know why the strategy guide isn't out yet? What do you think of the music for this game?

The strategy guide is out in a couple stores, though it's sold out in the few I know that carry it. Which is a shame, because I really want a bazaar guide.

The music is quite nice. There is little to no original music, just remixes of FFTA and FFXII music, but most of it works very nicely, so I don't really mind.

Roto13

07-06-2008, 01:47 AM

ljkkjlcm9

07-06-2008, 03:46 AM

man 50 hours? I only have like 16... my female counterpart is taking up basically all of my off work hours lol

It also doesn't help that I'm playing FFXII at the same time.

THE JACKEL

Skyblade

07-06-2008, 06:57 AM

There are a few missions that are giving me trouble now. There's one where you have to examine certain spots of the airship within a certain number of turns, but I'm not having any luck with it. I'm not fast enough. I'm going to have to come back once someone knows Hastega.

One that's really bugging me involves defending a pool of water from a clan. You lose if one of them enters the water. The problem is, two of them are Gria so they can just fly over your head.

I'm about 150 missions and 50 hours in. Still have a ways to go yet. Luso just mastered the Fighter class (it's pretty easy when you can dual-wield everything) and now I have him working on the Parivir class. After I master that, I guess Luso will be pretty much done. I might teach him some more Paladin skills for good measure.

A Moogle with Red Spring can be a big hand. Normally, I avoid Gadgeteers like the plague, but Red Spring was one of the abilities I mastered to get Juggler, and it can give you just the speed boost you need, especially at the start of a mission when you can just reload if it hits your enemies.

Can you hit them with Boulder Crush for immobilization?

I am on the mission just before the first auction, 42 missions in (17.25 hours, minus resets). Luso has gone mainly Soldier/Thief (level 20 right now). It's given him good speed, defense, and attack, though I have not yet gotten the Fighter job to train in (Mission that teaches it isn't unlocked). I also recently got my Assassin, though I have to say, I am loving the Viera classes. At some point I've used every Viera ability set I've unlocked, and been quite pleased with the results.

A high rank quest that took quite a bit of strategy to complete had a nice reward that wasn't in the quest reward list: the Sequencer. As with the Sequence in FFTA, it gives boosts to almost every stat, and gains power over time.
Took me a while to figure out, but it is every time you get an Opportunity Command, which makes for much faster growth than in FFTA.
I can't wait to get the Peytral, Acacia Hat, and Sapere Aude.

My earlier issues with the Bazaar have pretty much vanished. It seemed a little unbalanced early on, but after ten to fifteen more missions, when I got a wider variety of loot items and could pick and choose what to unlock, it got much better.

The new quests and laws are really nice. The chain quests were really well written, and the laws are a lot more interesting and have a lot wider variety than in FFTA. The clan trials were also really well designed. Quite a challenge, but worth it, even though none of the new privileges are used nearly as much as the AP up I received in the beginning. 20 extra AP is insanely useful. Story quests give 80 AP, others give 30. An additional 20 from my privilege bumps the AP up to even multiples of 50, which is much nicer for learning abilities.

Roto13

07-06-2008, 03:42 PM

Apparently there's a clan ability that doubles the amount of MP your party charges every turn. I've been meaning to get that at some point, but the clan trials are kind of a pain, I think. xP

Has anyone finished any tournaments yet? You get Espers for completing them. I just have Belias, so far. Tournaments seem to be few and far between.

Skyblade

07-06-2008, 06:05 PM

If the Camoa tourney is any indication, they're only around for a month or two, and only in the city where the tourney is.

The cabin in the mountain lets you skip a few days (20, 60, or 200, depending on your choice of answer), if you want to cycle the months around.
Where you met Lezaford, but only after you meet him.

qwertysaur

07-06-2008, 06:58 PM

I currently have 2 espers, Belias and Zalera. You get Zalera from the quest series starting with "The first step" Mission

ljkkjlcm9

07-06-2008, 07:45 PM

honestly, I'm just doing auctions, going and sleeping for 200 days, then doing more auctions. It's pretty easy to win once you get the hang of it, and after you master an area, they auction items. I've already gotten items like Excalibur from it, so it's definitely very useful.

THE JACKEL

Roto13

07-06-2008, 08:45 PM

After you accomplish something in the Auctions (I think it might be to use enough 5-coin tokens) you can buy more tokens at the beginning of the auction, including 5-coin ones. :P That makes them all pretty easy.

qwertysaur

07-06-2008, 09:23 PM

I control all the areas in my game.:p

To be able to buy coins you need to just play a certain number of auctions. Buying coins is almost required to win all of the areas in the goug auction because they only give you 3 of each coin. Using enough of each value tokens alows you to get a free token of each value at the beginning of the auction.

Also I have fallen in love with the seer job. Magick frenzy is fun to use with duel wielding. :D

Roto13

07-06-2008, 10:06 PM

I have a Seer but I don't have Magick Frenzy. What does it do?

Zeromus_X

07-06-2008, 11:02 PM

It lets you attack with a spell (Black, Illusionist, White except Raise/Arise, Blue, only Quake) and then follow up with a physical attack. It's kinda like Dualcast but with a physical attack. If you use it with Illusionist's spells you'll be able to magic/physical attack all enemies, so apparently it's pretty hax. My friend kept resetting at the auctions until he got the item that teaches it. xD

Roto13

07-07-2008, 12:03 AM

If you use it with Illusionist's spells you'll be able to magic/physical attack all enemies, so apparently it's pretty hax.

Holy snaps. xP It's like the new Calculator or something. xD I'm looking forward to that because my Seer is also my Illusionist. :P

I've mastered some more jobs. Black Mage and Hunter. I guess that makes three jobs I've mastered now. :P

Skyblade

07-07-2008, 01:18 AM

Yeah, Magic Frenzy is awesome. I've seen it, though I haven't gotten it yet. It costs zero MP, and follows up any spell hit with an attack from behind. I've heard that Dual Wield has been boosted to work with abilities (the way it did in FFT), so using it with Magic Frenzy means you get a spell hit and then two weapon hits.

Using it with Illusionist abilities means that you will be stuck using either Rods or Tomes, not the best physical weapons. And if you use Dual Wield, you'll have to find some way to get enough MP to keep up the pace.

If you want to see Magic Frenzy in action, fight the Blue Mage King (quest availible after defeating the Red Mage King). He uses it constantly with Quake.

ljkkjlcm9

07-07-2008, 03:53 AM

I want more of the missions where you don't actually have to fight anything to get AP, so I can level up all my characters in their classes. Though I'm also recruiting a total number of characters of each race so I can actually have all the kinds that I want, that I don't actually use. So I can get them to the appropriate class, then level them. Such as, I want a Bangaa Defender/Master Monk, and also a Bangaa Templar/Dragoon. So I have the one I use as a gladiator currently, and the one out of my party as a Bishop. Things like this.

I really am a perfectionist when it comes to games I really enjoy... though there's really no need for it in this game.

THE JACKEL

Dragonsoul

07-08-2008, 12:08 PM

I'm starting to like this game more as I play it, although I am not super impressed by it still. I'm 8 hours and about 17 missions into this. It's annoying sometimes because in order to continue the story you have to accept a quest and complete it, but you don't know exactly which quest to accept. Adelle mentioned some quest for me to do in order to continue but I don't remember which it was, so I'll have to accept a few. Something like this happened before, I need some type of hint, I'll find out soon though. The strategy guide isn't available on Amazon.com now but I found one copy on Ebay and ordered it. Is there any drawback to selling loot? Should I sell everything or is there any reason to keep certain loot items for possible uses in another situation? The fitting rooms in the shops should have an optimize option.

How many hours do you think the game will take if I don't do too much quests and mastering of jobs? I want to finish this game within six weeks, so I can get started on Final Fantasy I(PSP). How many hours does the game take if I did all the missions(400 exactly right?) and did most of the mastering of the jobs and all the sidequests?

I should be able to finish Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core on Friday, and then I can focus more on FF Tactics A2, which is nice. I hope that Square Enix announces another Ivalice game. Probably next would be a PSP port of Vagrant Story, or maybe Vagrant Story 2. I'm suprised that FF Tactics A2 is so popular, I didn't expect this, it's a great game though! :)

Roto13

07-08-2008, 02:55 PM

It's annoying sometimes because in order to continue the story you have to accept a quest and complete it, but you don't know exactly which quest to accept.

It's the top one on the list. The one that doesn't have a time limit. :P

Is there any drawback to selling loot? Should I sell everything or is there any reason to keep certain loot items for possible uses in another situation?

You should keep all of your loot for the Bazaar. Some quests need specific pieces of loot.

How many hours does the game take if I did all the missions(400 exactly right?) and did most of the mastering of the jobs and all the sidequests?

Nobody has finished it yet. :P It appears to be incredibly long. Well over 100 hours.

Dragonsoul

07-09-2008, 01:40 AM

Roto13, this rules! :)!!!

Great! I'm liking this game more as I play through it more. I like these tips you sent me in your post. Okay I won't sell the loot just use it for the Bazaar, which I haven't used yet. I wish we had more people on here from Japan who spoke Japanese and beat the original versions of the games. So we can find out how great and how long and how popular all these games are. We can find out in advance how ultimate Final Fantasy XIII is going to be.

At the moment I'm hoping that the battles speed up, everybody's damage they do is not high, it takes a while to win. I want to see the second week sales of the game, the first week has 60k, nice!

Will Final Fantasy IV(DS) be more popular than FF Tactics A2? :)

EDIT:
I noticed that sometimes at the top of the screen I see a picture of Luso's magical journal. It sometimes has words that appear in it suddenly as you go through the story. This I believe shows me what percentage of the main quest I have finished. I have finished 60% of the first of the two pages. So I'm 30% done overall with the main quest maybe? I'm 9 hours into the game and finished around 19 missions. It appears that this game is like Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core in the fact that the main quest is short but the side quests are extremely long. As far as "side quests" go, FF VII: CC has 300 missions which can be repetitive and not interesting enough, and average 7-10 minutes long. FF Tactics A2 has 400 quests which are a bit less repetitive and a bit more interesting, but probably are going to average 15-20 minutes in length. I played an hour today of this game, but I'll play more, I'm getting more into this game, partially because it appears that I am going through the main quest fast. Maybe I can finish this game by the end of the month! :)

Roto13

07-09-2008, 07:23 AM

I have about a page and two thirds finished in the book and I don't see how they can possibly wrap up the story by the end of the second page, especially since I'm about to do what appears to be a filler quest. :P

Ezel Berbier made a couple of appearances. I was so happy. xP I love Ezel.

Dragonsoul

07-09-2008, 08:01 AM

I'm pretty excited. I finished my "homework" of 9-10 missions in FF VII: CC tonight to get 50% of the 300 missions done in that game. The next three days I'll finish the other side quests and the game I hope. But in the meantime I'll hope to play a couple more hours of FF Tactics A2 tonight. It's interesting how I've been to what appears to be 60% of the areas in the world already after 9 hours. Roto13, that area in the top left with those ancient ruins, do you think that's an area that's going to have the final side quests or something, or something kinda like Necrohol of Nabudis and Nabreus Deadlands from Final Fantasy XII? :D

Skyblade

07-09-2008, 04:34 PM

Also, Dragon, watch the side of the book. Every five quests, you'll get a new bookmark stuck in the side of the grimoire. You'll get up to nine of those before they're replaced by a little statue as a reward for completing fifty quests.

Roto:
I doubt that filling the book will end the story. According to Lezaford, filling the book will unlock its full power, but the last boss fight and final story missions will likely not occur until after that.

I just obtained the Peytral. Since most armors don't have abilities anyway, and can be equipped by a greater variety of classes then Knightswords can (especially since some races can learn the "Tank" ability that lets [i]any class wear heavy armor), it will be sitting on one of my characters all the time.
Defeating the Blue King grants the Peytral, and once you find his weakness, he is absurdly easy. Quake takes at least 12 MP. Just use Rend MP on him to keep him at zero, and you should keep him from ever using it, which means no Magick Frenzy.

About to try the Camoa cup again, but I really hate the law on that one.

Roto13

07-09-2008, 05:20 PM

What law is it again? I did that quest and I don't remember having any trouble with the law.

ljkkjlcm9

07-09-2008, 05:28 PM

What law is it again? I did that quest and I don't remember having any trouble with the law.

it's either no magic, or no area attack. I haven't done it in awhile so I don't remember.

THE JACKEL

Skyblade

07-09-2008, 06:29 PM

Cannot use MP.

Zeromus_X

07-09-2008, 07:43 PM

What exactly is the special effect of Sequencer and Peytral? All it says in the description is "attack/defense increases under certain conditions". What are these conditions?

Well, now that I defeated the Red and Blue Kings, maybe I can attempt General Training II again. I actually put whatever on my units and managed to beat Blue King on my first try. I actually managed to nab some nice loot with Adelle and Luso while my other guys attacked him from afar with Moogle Lance/Air Render. It was pretty awesome seeing them get owned with Magick Frenzy, I didn't think about that Rend MP thing. He casts Quake, then double attacks everyone who gets hit. xD Thankfully he just used up most of his turns using that "Reveal Weakness" skill that lowers your defense. I just had Adelle throw weapons at him because it did more damage than anything else I had to use. O_o

ljkkjlcm9

07-09-2008, 07:50 PM

What exactly is the special effect of Sequencer and Peytral? All it says in the description is "attack/defense increases under certain conditions". What are these conditions?

When you get an opportunity turn, it increases the stats.

Special Note: I'm playing on Hard!
I've beaten all the way up through the black king, and my party is level 30ish. The White King (last one) rocked me though. Granted, he's level 88, so it was to be expected.

Red King was easy as pie
Blue King I attacked with long range stuff, and kept them all apart so if he did get to use magic frenzy, it was only on one guy.
Green King basically tried to apply SE's the whole time, so easy.
Black King was a bit of a pain. But eventually I got him trapped between my Green Mage with dodge magic, and my Bangaa with the mirror armor. He couldn't hurt either of them. Only problem was he'd cast the spell on him and my Bangaa, and heal for 300 HP. Eventually my sage built up enough to use Ultima blow, combined with strong attacks from other characters before his turn came back, and I managed to kill him.

On another note, I adore the auctions. Just got some Ninja tabi, the book that teaches magic frenzy, and Ultima shot for my hunter(main character). So I'm pretty much rocking right now.

THE JACKAL

Roto13

07-09-2008, 09:53 PM

I have Magic Frenzy on a Seer who has mastered the Illusionist class. I'm currently doing a fight where an unlimited number of Mimics attack you six at a time. I can take them all out in one shot with my Seer. :P Then they all come back and I do it again. You have to keep going for four rounds. I'm getting an assload of loot. It was taking forever, though, so I had to save before I finished. :P Whenever the Mimics respawn, they get to act pretty quickly afterwards.

Zeromus_X

07-09-2008, 10:03 PM

Just beat Green King and Black King. Green King tries to use this spell to raise her accuracy, but I had Eerie Sound Wave (Malboro) to debuff her every time.

Black King was hard because he'd keep healing himself with his level three spells (on top of damaging everyone). At first I thought I'd just be able to throw stuff at him again until everyone died except Adelle...it was pretty funny, for a few turns, he'd keep attacking her, and she'd counter except she had the fire katana on so it'd just heal him. So then I thought of something else. I made Luso a Blue Mage with Precision, and used Focus. Apparently Self-Destruct (Bombs) counts as a physical attack, so it works with Focus. And it has a 100% hit rate. So, from behind, Luso was able to explode and deal over 200 damage to him, so it was awesome. And he auto-revived, so I was able to do it again. I had my other Blue Mage do the same, except he could only do it once (although with Adelle throwing weapons at him this was all I needed). I love Blue Magic. :)

I want to get into these auction things. :( I was able to win all the areas the first time the auctions came around, except for one, so I don't think I can bid on items yet.

Roto13

07-09-2008, 10:52 PM

The first time the auctions took place, you had access to two towns with auctions, right? If you swept one of the auctions, it should have items the next time you go there.

I think a good rule of thumb for the Kings is to take them on when your party is at least half the King's level. :P

Skyblade

07-09-2008, 11:31 PM

What exactly is the special effect of Sequencer and Peytral? All it says in the description is "attack/defense increases under certain conditions". What are these conditions?

The Attack of the Sequencer and the Defense of the Peytral increase by 1 whenever you get an Opportunity command.

Actually, Roto, I swept both towns, but due to the fact that you must win 5 auctions before you can gain access to the item auctions, I can only get items in one of the towns.

I found it impossible or nearly so to sweep the third town in the first auction season. Even with the +1 to 2, 3, and 5 tokens, the Culinary Crusade pushes too hard in the first auction. If you go for the bonuses, it becomes impossible to catch up even if you spend all your highest level tokens once you get the +5s, and if you don't, you run out of tokens in the later auctions. So I got second in Moorabella and first in all the other areas. Since that gives me +1 coin and tie-win rights to those areas next time, I should be able to clean sweep it no problem.

Zeromus_X

07-10-2008, 12:19 AM

Is that by 1 permanently, or is it just for the battle?

I just slept for a few years so I could become champion of all the areas. Being able to buy tokens with your CP is pretty nice, I don't think I could've won them all without those extra 3 and 5 tokens.

And has anyone payed attention to this one Moogle Clan? It was in Moorabella. Mooglygoug, I think it's called...they had nearly 70 of every token (over 70 of some of them)! Thankfully they didn't decide to just spam 5 point tokens because there would've been no way for me to win if they played smartly.

Skyblade

07-10-2008, 12:35 AM

ljkkjlcm9

07-10-2008, 02:06 AM

That clan has never actually bid anything worthwhile against me anytime I've seen them.

I mastered the three towns on the first continent, and just recently (just gotten to the 2nd continent) mastered the 2 over there. 2 fairy shoes, and 2 ninja tabi, among so many other weapons and armor. It's gotten to the point that I've learned how to manipulate well enough that I don't need to buy any tokens for the 3 towns on the first continent to get all the items.

When I finally finish skill learning on my Paladin, giving him both Peytral and Sequence, he'll have one of the ninja tabi (+2 jump from items, +2 move from tabi.) My main character has the fairy shoes, because he's a hunter. My other fairy shoes are on my Fusilier. Ranged people get so much more benefit from it, being able to go way up mountains and etc to shoot people. My Bangaa has my other Ninja tabi.

As for the auctions, I do them over and over again. I have over 1000 CP so why not? Just do the auction, sleep for 200 days, then 20 days, and do the auctions again. You don't lose anything by passing the time, and you can get some awesome equipment early that way.

I honestly never cared for Blue Mages, and therefore never use one.

THE JACKEL

Dragonsoul

07-10-2008, 03:05 AM

Whoa! A ton of posts recently, this game is extremely popular. Just checking in. I'll beat Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core today, and that will give me more time to play Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift. Although I may buy Final Fantasy I(PSP) today, not sure yet. I better decide in 2 hours before the store closes though!

I'm at a part where I have to collect a pearl. :)

Skyblade

07-10-2008, 03:23 AM

You're missing out, Jackal. Blue Mages are very powerful characters. Training them can be a problem, but they have a really awesome skillset if you can master it, and they have quite good all around stats.

Early on, spells like Sandstorm (easy way to do AoE Earth damage, and it blinds enemies) and War Dance (strength buff for 5 people) are quite helpful. Later you'll augment those with moves like Quake, Angel Whisper, White Wind, Doom... They are a really balanced class, with one of the largest skillsets. Plus, many, if not all, Blue Magics can be cast while silenced, so they will be one of the most helpful casters in some missions.

Zeromus_X

07-10-2008, 04:55 AM

Yeah, it can be a pain to get all those abilities (especially since you essentially need to have a Nu Mou with all the Beastmaster abilities), but I'd say it's worth it. I still have yet to find any instruments that teach Sprite or Dragon Beast Lores, since those are the only monsters I have left that have most of the Blue Magics I need, although I'd guess the auctions would be my best bet.

Still don't have those Ninja Tabi, although I was able to find Faerie Shoes in a treasure urn. I gave them to my Luso who's also a Ranger. I love using Focus-> Sidewinder to utterly destroy any monster enemies. I got a Rangetsu-denbu from the auction house, I gave it to my Adelle so she could assassinate things (giving her the faerie shoes if I'm not using Luso). I'd like to get more, because if it's the same as FFTA, you learn the ability faster if you have two of the same equipments that teach the same ability.

For whatever reason, I always end up finding a random clan entry character on the months when Nu Mou always appear. I think it's a sign that I should try out that Magick Frenzy thing, so I've begun raising them as Illusionists.

Roto13

07-10-2008, 05:28 AM

Nu Mou can't learn Magic Frenzy. :P

Zeromus_X

07-10-2008, 07:12 AM

Oh man. :( Guess I'll have to raise a bunch of humes for that strategy...=/

Dragonsoul

07-10-2008, 08:04 AM

I wonder why this game isn't as popular on the ffshrine.org forums? There's a thread there about the game also. :)

wylantar

07-10-2008, 08:08 AM

Dragonsoul

07-10-2008, 01:27 PM

I don't know about that yet, let me check when I see it. The game is great, I'm getting used to it.

I'm trying to estimate the length of this game. I think that right now quests are averaging 15 minutes each. That means you can finish 4 in an hour and if there are 400 quests thats 100 hours. Maybe the main quest is 30 hours long by itself, not sure though. Then maybe 20 hours more for any other side quests or stuff. Then maybe 30 hours more for some extra levelling up and job mastering at the end. That may mean that this game is a total of 180 hours for a 100% completion rate atleast? Does anybody have any idea of how long the game is? :)

Yar

07-10-2008, 02:35 PM

One thing I really appreciate about this game is the foreign language options. I really want to learn French, and this game is actually helping.

Krelian

07-10-2008, 04:31 PM

You could always import the European games then. They always have several languages on one cartridge. Since DS doesn't have region codes there's only the price that could be stopping you :D

Roto13

07-10-2008, 04:39 PM

Anyone else notice they got kinda lazy with the way certain abilities look? Jump and the breath attacks for Dragoons looked cooler in FFTA to me. And casting ninjitsu looked cooler too. But other than those 3 minor things, this game freakin rocks.

Jump looks more-or-less the same as it did before, but the Dragoon's breath attacks look a lot nicer. In FFTA, they were just three different coloured puffs. :P In A2, they're big crazy cones of fire/electricity/cold.

wylantar

07-11-2008, 12:28 AM

Jump looks more-or-less the same as it did before, but the Dragoon's breath attacks look a lot nicer. In FFTA, they were just three different coloured puffs. :P In A2, they're big crazy cones of fire/electricity/cold.

Yeah you got a point, the cones do look nicer. I just liked how the "puffs" rolled out along the ground =P But still! Check out the ninjitsu, theres not that little puff of smoke that comes from your hands when you cast anymore. I guess I was just expecting the ninjitsu to atleast have different magic animations instead of using the same animation for two different spells, like "Water Veil" and the sage spell "Water"

Roto13

07-13-2008, 03:39 AM

I finished the main story today. :P It took me about 75 hours and 250 missions. I was doing every optional mission that came up as early as I could. More spoilery details in a random order:

The main story is over around when the second page of the Grimoire is filled. Once you go through the credits, you save again and come back right before the final mission, only now a bunch of extra missions are open in the pub.

Vaan is a lot cooler in A2 than in XII. It's like he... ate Balthier or something.

Al-Cid is hilariously awesome. I haven't played as him yet (I just recruited him after loading my finished saved game) but he was in a couple of missions already and he was great.

The recruitable characters with special classes (unless there are more, which is possible) are Vaan (Sky Pirate, a lot like a thief), Penelo (Dancer), Hurdy (Bard, which is an awesome support class) and Al-Cid (Agent).

There is a mission (well, it might not count as a mission, but a battle) that's a one-on-one fight between Adelle and someone else. Unfortunately, I hadn't used Adelle at all so she was at level 10 and going up against someone at level 25. It did not end well for her. I have to grind her up and try again.

Once you start figuring out some cheap combinations of abilities and privileges, the game gets pretty easy. I'm going to start setting limits for myself for the extra missions. No more Halve MP + MP Channeling + Magic Frenzy + Illusion for me.

MVP awards started coming incredibly rarely later in the game. I never did finish anyone's MVP statue.

EDIT: Mewt is in the ending. He looks a lot like a hardcore lesbian I used to work with.

One of the story quests later in the game involves fighting imposters of Vaan and Penelo. :P They look fantastic.

There's a scene where Vaan and Penelo mention leaving Nono on Lemures. I'm assuming that happens in FF XII Revenant Wings (I never finished it because it was so awful) so I'm wondering if this game is canon in the FF XII Ivalice after all.

KH-Cloudy

07-13-2008, 04:07 AM

About 18 hours in..and haven't played the FFTA for GBA.

I seem to like it so far and read only up to page two of this thread. Thanks for the useful ffta2 wiki / jobrequirement! It's going to help me since I don't know which quests gives what job.

I like the laws..actually because they help make a challenge during the game. Also makes it more fun since it's going to be a bit harder.

The only thing I don't like so far is how long the quest reopens since you've either failed it or didn't make it in time. 200+ days seems a lot..

Roto13

07-13-2008, 04:40 AM

Some quests take that long and others don't. There's a cabin in the Aldanna Range where you can sleep for up to 200 days at a time.

Dragonsoul

07-13-2008, 04:43 AM

Great work Roto13! You finished already! :)

Skyblade

07-13-2008, 04:53 AM

Finishing a speed plot playthrough so I can go back and do it on hard-mode (I always try a new game on default/easier settings before I tackle the harder difficulties). There's a lot of good things in this game, though there are a couple frustrations.

First, the quests to unlock jobs. I don't mind the idea of doing quests to unlock jobs. It's a good idea, and some of the quests are awesome. But you have to be about halfway through the main story or more to unlock the most powerful ones. I don't mind waiting that long to train those classes, but it totally ruins your stat growth when you're stuck levelling as basic classes for the first 15 to 20 levels.

Then there's the law that is really annoying, "Don't harm the weak". You can't take any offensive actions against a lower level enemy. This law only shows up in missions where either you don't have to kill enemies to win, or you get an ally to help. Now, for the no kills to win, it doesn't matter much, but the ones with an ally suck. My characters were level 40 and the mark I had to kill was 25. So I spent a few turns healing the ally (who was a Green Mage and most unwilling to attack) until I decided to say "to hell with it" and unleashed an Ultima Masher on the boss (oddly, it seems that if the move that breaks the law also ends the mission, the mission ends before the laws are cancelled).

And finally, there's the quest that can only be completed through dispatch, that the game gives you the option of taking on without dispatching someone. If you take on all the quests yourself, you might spend a couple tries banging your head in frustration before you finally decide to dispatch someone to take it out. You have 6 days to travel to 3 different areas and talk to 3 people in them. Unfortunately, the quest designers seemed to have overlooked that talking to the people takes up an extra day of time, so you wind up 2 days short no matter what.

I agree with Roto that Vaan seemed to die sometime between XII and A2, and was replaced by a character with a personality (and an awesome one).

Also, Roto, have you tried doing single character battles to boost MVP? I know that Illusionists generally kill things too fast to get MVP status (4 attacks isn't usually enough to earn it), but when I let my Assassin Ultima Masher everything, she tends to get MVP fairly often. Statue is over halfway, and the first gem has appeared in it.

ljkkjlcm9

07-13-2008, 04:56 AM

IF you played Revenant Wings, you'd understand Vaan and how he is now IMO

THE JACKEL

KH-Cloudy

07-13-2008, 04:59 AM

I haven't finished Revenant Wings yet, about 80% through with it though.

EDIT: Thanks for the cabin part.

Skyblade

07-14-2008, 01:32 PM

Roto:
The Gifted side quest to unlock Heritor (which is the one-on-one mission with Adelle that I think you were talking about) was really easy. I didn't use her that much either, but I did teach her abilities (since everyone gets AP). She had enough Thief abilities to become a Ninja by that time. So I equipped her with a Ribbon, Ninja Gear, Ninja Tabi, and two Ragetsu-Denbus (one from the Gun Gear-Screamroot-Lightwing Crystal from the AH, and one from the urn of that "keep them out of the water" mission you hated. :P) so she could dual wield. Mission started, she attacked him from the front, he moved and shot her from behind and missed, and she back attacked and ended it. Since evasion is independent of level this should work any time, and, if Adelle knows it, you can equip Archer's Bane to dodge his basic attacks.

Roto13

07-14-2008, 04:48 PM

There aren't a lot of abilities that can help you in a one-on-one fight against someone who is 2.5x your level. :P I had to level up at least a little bit.

Skyblade

07-15-2008, 01:51 AM

About the little moogle statues that you get for every 50 quests:
I just got my third, and it is clearly Nono. I'm guessing then that the statues are all of Montblanc's siblings. That being the case, I'm really wondering what the significance of them are, and what happens when you complete all 400 missions...

Roto13

07-15-2008, 01:55 AM

Montblanc only has two siblings. There's one of Hurdy. :P

I have five. There's Montblanc, Nono, Hurdy, two cute little Black Mage moogles, and one floating moogle that may or may not be one of the teleportation moogles from Rabanastre. :P

Skyblade

07-15-2008, 01:57 AM

Montblanc only has two siblings. There's one of Hurdy. :P

He only has two siblings that you meet, but I'm certain that Hurdy says that there are more.

Link (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Montblanc)

There are six total. Considering that the second statue has two, that does leave us short though.

Zeromus_X

07-16-2008, 07:49 AM

I just beat the White King. Adelle was able to steal his Ninja Tabi on the first try, so thankfully I could keep the law bonus until I tried to steal again (enabling me to revive someone once). It was pretty easy, even though his spells like Scathe (giant laser beam!) and Gigaflare were pretty scary. I can't wait to get those. The Focus/Self Destruct Angel Ring strat worked well here too, and my assassin with Ultima Masher finished him off. Even if that failed, my Mirror Items Ranger would've been able to save the day. Come to think of it, it may be the broken ability setups that made it so easy...but, at least it was fun, and I got to see Scathe.

Roto13

07-16-2008, 07:53 AM

I use Scathe whenever I have the opportunity. :P Scathe is awesome.

When I saw it I was like "OSNAPS SCATHE IS IN THIS GAME!" It's like the new Ultima.

More info on Montblanc's siblings.

Obviously, there's Montblanc (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Montblanc) and Nono (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Nono), so that's two. There's also Hurdy (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Hurdy). Hurdy was one of the Moogling operators in XII, along with two more of the Montblanc siblings, Horne (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Horne) and Sorbet (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Sorbet). Hurdy also has a twin sister named Gurdy (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Gurdy).

It looks like that statue of two moogles is of Horne and Sorbet, and the little floating one is Gurdy. I have 277 quests completed, so I have five statues, and they're all Montblanc's siblings. I should be able to get two more statues, one for 300 and one for 350. (There doesn't really seem to be room for another one for 400, so I'm not sure what happens with that one.) I'm curious about what the other two statues will be. :P

Dragonsoul

07-17-2008, 04:43 AM

Roto13, I'm 16 hours into the game, please answer me some questions...

1. Sometimes I get an option to add a new character, I've added all of them so far, and now I have 12 total. Should I deny all new character or add all of them? If I add some, which ones should I add?

2. All my character have only 1-2 abilities. In order to get new abilities I have to get a piece of equipment that they can equip and that has an ability, then level up the ability until I can use it. The stores don't sell regularly much equipment that I can use. Apparently all the good equipment exists in the Bazaar. But there are like a hundred different items! How do I know what item has what power level and what ability and goes with which class?! Maybe I missed something, but I don't understand all of this yet. What's your thought on this?

3. I have only done the first level of the few Clan Trials I seen, do I really need to do them? I don't see a use for them yet. I believe that eventually I'm going to come up to new quests that require me to have certain skills and in order to get those skills I have to do Clan Trials, and that's the purpose of doing them, right?

Thanks, please consider those questions, in response I'll give you some information.

Fall 2008 Rpg Release Calendar

8-19 Xbox 360 Action Tales of Vesperia
8-19 Xbox 360 Action Too Human
8-26 PS 3 Tactical Disgaea 3
!!9-2 Xbox 360 Action Infinite Undiscovery
9-2 DS Action Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
!9-16 DS Traditional Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
9-23 DS Tactical Disgaea
!10-xx Xbox 360 Action Fable 2
10-xx? PC Mmorpg The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria
10-xx? Wii Action Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
10-21 PSP Action Star Ocean: First Departure
!11-xx? XB360/PS 3/PC First Person Fallout 3
!11-xx? PC Mmorpg World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
!!11-xx? DS Traditional Chrono Trigger
!!11-xx? PS 3 Action Eternal Sonata
!11-20 Xbox 360 Traditional The Last Remnant
12-9 PS 2 Traditional Persona 4

The games with one exclamation mark are the ones I have some interest in. The ones with two exclamation marks are the ones I have a chance to buy. Please give me your games from that list that you give ONE or TWO exclamation marks to?

Also, in Final Fantasy XII Montblanc mentions that he had a teacher/master who died or something while trying to defeat Yiazmat right? I believe he said that he had many siblings. I think that these siblings, Montblanc, Nono, Hurdy, etc, represent some of the main team members of the Yasumi Matsuno team.

Some possible members based on various members of the Ogre/Tactics/Ivalice/Yasumi Matsuno games...
Yiazmat: Yasumi Matsuno or the monster that defeated Yasumi Matsuno, I hope they reveal a moogle based on Yasumi Matsuno
Character Designer: Akihiko Yoshida
Art Director: Hiroshi Minagawa
Composer: Hitoshi Sakimoto
Composer: Masaharu Iwata
Game/Battle Design: Hiroyuki Ito

I like this theory, :choc2:!!!

ljkkjlcm9

07-17-2008, 04:51 AM

1) You don't have to add everyone. I only add people of a certain race or job if I want another character of that race, and/or want to train someone in a particular job.

2) Basically, anytime a new dot appears at the bazaar, I make the item. As long as what it's going to make is ????. If I already know what it is (gotten from quest or something) I may not make it. Also, after you get auctions and win some of them and become area champion, that's a quick way to get awesome items.

3) I did clan trials to get new clan privileges, most notably AP up 3. Just do Negotiation-Teamwork when you get it, on level 3, 3 times. You'll end up with AP up 3, which for most of the game, until you master all the classes you want, is one of the best abilities. Other than that, do the other clan trials, see if doing that level (1-5) gives a new privilege, and if not, don't do it.

btw out of your list, I'm most interested in Tales of Symphonia 2... by far.

THE JACKEL

Roto13

07-17-2008, 05:17 AM

1. Sometimes I get an option to add a new character, I've added all of them so far, and now I have 12 total. Should I deny all new character or add all of them? If I add some, which ones should I add?

In FFTA, new characters were the average level of your team, but now they're capped at 30 so having a lot of characters doesn't really cause any problem. IT's good to have a diverse clan with everyone learning abilities, if only so you have jobs available for dispatch missions. (The Wanted: Whatever dispatch missions require specific jobs. It's up to you to figure out which ones. :P) Aside from Luso and Adelle, there are like 6 special characters, so it's good to have slots open for them.

2. All my character have only 1-2 abilities. In order to get new abilities I have to get a piece of equipment that they can equip and that has an ability, then level up the ability until I can use it. The stores don't sell regularly much equipment that I can use. Apparently all the good equipment exists in the Bazaar. But there are like a hundred different items! How do I know what item has what power level and what ability and goes with which class?! Maybe I missed something, but I don't understand all of this yet. What's your thought on this?

You could use a guide if you wanted, but it's not really necessary. :P

What I did was I only made new items that I was probably going to use in my main party. Like if I didn't have a Seer at the time, I didn't make any books. The higher ranked items are more powerful than the lower ranked ones, obviously. The game lets you preview an item before you make it (what it looks like) so if you see something you don't want, you can cancel out of it. Don't worry about it too much. There's plenty of loot out there. You can use common sense to get a general idea of where to find certain pieces of equipment. Obviously, the rod that teaches Blizzaga is going to have a description of an ice elemental piece of equipment.

3. I have only done the first level of the few Clan Trials I seen, do I really need to do them? I don't see a use for them yet. I believe that eventually I'm going to come up to new quests that require me to have certain skills and in order to get those skills I have to do Clan Trials, and that's the purpose of doing them, right?

The clan trials are completely optional. I maxed out all of my Clan stats without even having a title. :P However, for every level 1, level 3, and level 5 rank in each trial, you get a Clan Privilege. Some of these are absurdly useful. For example, if you do the Levels 1, 3, and 5 matches for Aptitude, Adaptability (it's one trial named that, not one for aptitude and one for adaptability) you get Channel MP, which doubles the amount of MP you get on ever turn. Combinging that with Half MP, you can actually cast Illusion spells on every single turn. My Sage can cast Ultima every single turn, and my Gladiator and Hunter can cast it every two turns.

Some of the more advanced titles give you extra little bonuses, like discounts at shops and stuff.

Also, in Final Fantasy XII Montblanc mentions that he had a teacher/master who died or something while trying to defeat Yiazmat right? I believe he said that he had many siblings. I think that these siblings, Montblanc, Nono, Hurdy, etc, represent some of the main team members of the Yasumi Matsuno team.

I don't know anything about that. :P

Dragonsoul

07-17-2008, 10:04 AM

This rules Ljkkjlcm9 and Roto13, thanks for the answer! :choc2:!!!

Skyblade

07-17-2008, 01:41 PM

One slight change to what Roto said: Only the first clan trials give privileges for the 1st, 3rd, and 5th trials. The later ones give privileges for all five versions of the trial.

Also, the Negotiation titles, the higher dual-stat titles, and the later General Training titles all include a discount to the cost of quests and shop items.

Dragonsoul

07-17-2008, 02:55 PM

This is pretty great, :choc2:!!!

Roto13, I have a strategy guide now, these are all the sidequests right? ...

Quests 1(277)
Quests 2(091)
Clan Trials(054)

Auctions

Level Up
Bazaar
Get Equipment
Get Items
Unlock Jobs
Master Jobs

...that's all the side quests in FF Tactics A2 correct? I just now created all Bazaar items available, it took 45 minutes or so, I'm about 17 hours into the game. I'll equip some of the new items and participate in some of the Quests 1 and Quests 2 stuff, to level up, learn abilities, unlock jobs, and master jobs. After doing this for a few hours I'll return to the main quest. :)

EDIT:
I have some question about the game please. In Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions I only levelled up Ramza and the first four non-story characters I got. I didn't use in battle any story characters or any other characters. With levelling up only 5 characters, I could get to the best jobs faster. I am thinking that maybe I should do something like this in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift. Maybe I should have one character from each race only?

Current characters...

Luso Hume Male Soldier
Vilford Nu Mou Male White Mage
Donne Viera Female Fencer
Ostin Bangaa Male White Monk
Zissou Hume Male Thief
Simon Moogle Male Animist

Adelle Hume Female White Mage
Lawrn Seeq Male Berserker
Gauche Hume Male White Mage
Loshgoobi Bangaa Male White Monk
Rhoald Bangaa Male Warrior
Ransem Nu Mou Male Beastmaster

Cid ? Male Warrior

Maybe I should have...
Three Humes: Luso(Paravir), Zissou(Ninja/Hunter), Adelle(Spellcaster)
One Nu Mou: Vilford
One Viera: Donne
One Bangaa: Ostin
One Moogle: Simon
One Seeq: Lawrn
One Gria: Haven't gotten one yet

Cid(what's his race?)
Vaan(Hume, Paravir)
Penelo(Hume, Spellcaster)
Al-Cid(Hume, Ninja/Hunter)

...I want to have as little characters as possible. Roto13, is it possible for me to have a situation where for each Non-Hume race I only have one character and this character is strong at all the high level jobs and I switch them when I feel like it? Or is it best for me to have 2-3 characters from each Non-Hume race? My characters are at level 16-17 right now, 20 hours into the game. I don't know what I should do if I get an option to get a new character. Your thoughts? :choc2:?!

Skyblade

07-19-2008, 02:37 AM

Ok, I just found an awesome new hidden character. Not a cameo from a previous FF, to my knowledge, no secret job, and not a main-plot character. But at the end of a really well written chain of quests, you get a new character in your clan.

The quests are about a zombie who remembers her past life. That's all you get.

Roto13

07-19-2008, 03:30 AM

That character has a wallpaper (http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i27/rotothirteen/fr_l.jpg) and everything. :P

...I want to have as little characters as possible. Roto13, is it possible for me to have a situation where for each Non-Hume race I only have one character and this character is strong at all the high level jobs and I switch them when I feel like it? Or is it best for me to have 2-3 characters from each Non-Hume race? My characters are at level 16-17 right now, 20 hours into the game. I don't know what I should do if I get an option to get a new character. Your thoughts?

Well, to have characters you actually want to use, it's a better idea to just pick six characters and stick with them. If you want, you can probably get away with mixing it up, though. The game isn't that hard on Normal mode. There are seven races, so you'd really only have to raise seven characters if you want one of each race ready for battle.

It's not a good idea to use one character of a race to master every job, though. If you try to raise a character as both a fighter and a mage, you'll end up with a one that's just really bad at both. :P (This doesn't really apply to the Seeq or Gria. Their jobs are basically all physical, with the possible exception of Geomancer.)

What I do is I have my six characters I use (Luso, two Humes, a Bangaa, Hurdy, and a Nu Mou) and I raise the rest of my clan for dispatch missions. The highest level a regular character will join you at is 30, so once your clan's average level is 30, you don't really have to worry about who you accept. You can fill your party completely, if you want. When a new character wants to join, you'll have the option of getting rid of one of the ones you already have.

Auctions

Level Up
Bazaar
Get Equipment
Get Items
Unlock Jobs
Master Jobs

I don't know how many of those I would actually classify as side quests, but ok. :P

Quests 1(277)
Quests 2(091)
Clan Trials(054)

What does your guide say about Quests 1 and Quests 2? What's the diference? :P Do Clan Trials count towards your quests total? I never noticed that kind of thing. xP

There are some quests that don't really show up at the pubs. Some of them occur randomly on the map, and some of them you learn of by reading rumours and letters and things in the pub. Near Goug, there's a random enounter with a bunch of Chocobos. Sometimes the red chocobo is randomly replaced by a really strong one. Level 99, I think. Once you beat it, you get a summon. I think that counts as a quest.

Something I discovered today. It's a good idea to do that Odd Places quest whenever it pops up. It opens up new areas and new quests. I'm at 282 quests completed and before I discovered that, I had no idea what to do to find more quests. :P It looks like this game suffers from the same problem as FFTA in that regard, only (hopefully) to a lesser extent. I may have to find a copy of the guide somewhere. But like hell am I paying for it. xP

Oh, and as for Cid's race? I don't know what his race is called, but as far as his jobs are concerned, he's a normal Bangaa.

Fun fact: Hurdy can't be a Chocobo Knight. You'll need to raise one of those from another Moogle, since they're essential to some of the optional quests.

If anyone finds any more quests that you should do multiple times, please say so. :P Aside from Odd Places, another one is For The Cause. For every 1000 gil you donate (up to 8000, I believe) you get an item.

Dragonsoul

07-19-2008, 07:20 AM

Skyblade, you're talking about the character from the picture Roto13 linked to? That character looks great! I haven't gotten to that person yet...

She reminds me of Agrias from Final Fantasy Tactics!

Roto13, what do you think of this plan of mine? Is it good? ...

Current character, 22 hours into the game
Luso Hume Male Soldier ---> Paravir
Vilford Nu Mou Male White Mage ---> Alchemist
Donne Viera Female Fencer ---> Spellblade
Ostin Bangaa Male White Monk ---> Trickster
Zissou Hume Male Thief ---> Ninja/Hunter
Simon Moogle Male Animist ---> Magic Cannoneer

Adelle Hume Female White Mage ---> Illusionist
Lawrn Seeq Male Berserker ---> Lanista
Gauche Hume Male White Mage ---> Blue Mage
Loshgoobi Bangaa Male White Monk ---> Templar
Rhoald Bangaa Male Warrior ---> Cannoner
Ransem Nu Mou Male Beastmaster ---> Arcanist

Cid Bangaa Male Warrior ---> Defender

Future plans for all characters, not including new story characters
4 Humes: Luso(Paravir), Zissou(Ninja/Hunter), Adelle(Illusionist), Gauche(Blue Mage)
4 Bangaa: Ostin(Trickster), Loshgoobi(Templar), Rhoald(Cannoneer), Cid(Defender)
1 Moogle: Simon(Magic Cannoner) <---Need 2 more
2 Nu Mou: Vilford(Alchemist), Ransem(Arcanist) <---Need 1 more
1 Viera: Donne(Spellblade) <---Need 2 more
0 Gria: <---Need 2 more
1 Seeq: Lawrn(Lanista) <---Need 1 more

I want 4 Humes, 4 Bangaa, 3 Moogles, 3 Nu Mou's, 3 Viera, 2 Gria, and 2 Seeq. This is probably good? Also, when I unlock all the jobs for the race, how many jobs do I actually want to use, probably 3 of them?

Quests 1("Sub Quests" it says) are the quests you unlock at the Pub. Quests 2("Side Quests" it says) are unlocked through other ways. The difference in another way is that the icon for the quest on the map is a different icon. Instead of being that blue exclamation mark it could be a question mark, a yellow font exclamation mark inside a red square bubble, or a picture of a cat(I like this cat!!). I think the regular quests show a blue exclamation mark. I don't know if Clan Trials of Quests 2("Side Quests" in the strategy guide) count torward your "quest total" they show in the load screen, but you can beat one and check if you like.

I like this topic. I'm feeling a bit annoyed at Final Fantasy I(PSP) right now because I'm in the Lifespring Grotto and suddenly I have to fight this boss that's extremely hard. I got annoyed at losing to it. Instead of levelling up I just decided to rest from Final Fantasy I and play Final Fantasy Tactics A2, do you approve of this?

I'm going to do like 20 more quests tonight. Did anybody beat the game yet? :choc2:?!

Roto13

07-19-2008, 07:50 AM

I finished the story but I still have quite a few missions to go. I'm doing one now where I have to kill ten mimics, but only four have actually appeared (from treasure chests) and no more have shown up. >_>

It might be worth your while to make a Hume mage so he can eventually become a Seer. They can get pretty broken. They're basically like Hume Red Mages, only with lots of potential for cheapness. :P

I've never really liked any of the Bangaa White Monk jobs, but it might be worth making one just because they can eventually become Master Monks and Tricksters, which are two new Bangaa jobs. :P

When you get the correct sword, it'll be worth your time to change Lusso into a Ninja long enough to learn Dual Wield. I had him as a Parivir for a while, too. The stat growth is nice, but I almost never used his techniques. Fighter definitely has better A Abilities.

I want 4 Humes, 4 Bangaa, 3 Moogles, 3 Nu Mou's, 3 Viera, 2 Gria, and 2 Seeq. This is probably good? Also, when I unlock all the jobs for the race, how many jobs do I actually want to use, probably 3 of them?

You only technically need one of each race (besides special characters) to complete all of the missions. :P It's good to diversify, though. If you have at least one reserve character for every job, there won't be a single dispatch quest you can't handle. :P

I keep focusing on dispatch quests because I don't think it's a good idea to raise that many characters for battle. You'll never really need them. It's better to pick a party and stick with them.

EDIT: Apparently the description for that mission said one FINGER per serving and not one Mimic per serving so I only had to kill two. ;>_>

KH-Cloudy

07-19-2008, 07:57 AM

My Luso currently is a Paladin, with about five abilities master with one Fighter ability : Aurablast(this ability freakin' rocks xD)

Level 41 with some pretty good equips that I earned from the Auction House :p The Reflex reaction is pretty damn useful might I add.

And I love my Archer as well because of the Seventh Heaven bow which gives Ultima Shot that deals freakin' 3xx dmg

Skyblade

07-19-2008, 02:07 PM

Skyblade, you're talking about the character from the picture Roto13 linked to? That character looks great! I haven't gotten to that person yet...

She reminds me of Agrias from Final Fantasy Tactics!

Yep, that's her. She's an awesome swordmaster.

She's a Paladin with Dual Wield and some Paladin abilities mastered. And, since she's female, she can wear Ribbons without having to use the Seer's Ribbon-Bearer.

Since she comes to you with Paladin stats, you'll probably want to level her up as a Paravir or Ninja to boost her attack and speed a bit, but she is still an awesome character. And, unlike the semi-special characters in FFTA (Lini, Eldena, Pallanza, Quin, Chen, and Littlevili), she has her own portrait.

ljkkjlcm9

07-19-2008, 03:34 PM

If you're going to use Parivir Abilities, whether as a main class or a sub class... use Geomancy. You learn that from a Sage's Robe on a black mage. It changes how different elements affect enemies.
Absorb---> Immune---> 1/2 Damage ---> Normal ---> Weak

With Geomancy on, and all the different elemental attacks a Parivir gets, you can almost always get at least one which they will be weak too. In my party of level 40's, I kept a human back at level 20 waiting for Parivir and the abilities so I could level him. He's doing more damage with that combo then Luso is with Dual Wield 20 levels higher. The best suggestion is Paladin/Parivir w/Geomancy. Then you have most elements at your disposal between the two classes, give them a fully powered Sequencer, and you have the strongest single hit attack in the game... can be better than Ultima, and it's every turn.

My personal favorite Combos:
Human:
Paladin/Parivir w/Geomancy
Paladin/Seer w/Dual Wield or Heritor/Seer (Adelle only) w/Dual Wield (Magick frenzy ftw)
Bangaa:
Master Monk/White Monk W/Shieldbearer. Equip no weapon and two shields. Get very high evasion.
Trickster/Gladiator w/ Unscarred. Very long range Ultima
Moogle:
Fusilier/Moogle Knight or Fusilier/Juggler w/Geomancy (for elemental bullets). One for good SE's and long range Ultima. The other for lots of good support
Viera:
Red Mage/Summoner W/Blood Price. Two summons every turn? Hell yes! (equip an elemental absorb robe, and hit yourself when you hit enemies, and it'll be free too)
Sniper/Spellblade... Long range SE application
Sniper/Assassin w/Blood Price. Long range Ultima every turn
Nu Mou:
Sage/Black Mage... widest variety of elemental attacks to use.. really the only Nu Mou I like.
Seeq:
Personally don't like them. But Ranger + Mirror Item + Item Lore + Xpotion = 100% 400 damage anytime.
Gria:
Hunter/Ravager... Sneak Attack from behind for massive damage at range, plus ultima.
Raptor/Geomancer... mostly support. Raptor has the best magic attack growth of the Gria, with good support abilities all around. Coupled with the situational magic of Geomancer... pretty good combo.

My final party?
Human: Paladin/Parivir
Bangaa: Master Monk/White Monk
Moogle: Fusilier/Mog Knight
Viera: Summoner/Red Mage
Gria: Hunter/Ravager
Last spot rotates depending on laws and such, but most commonly:
Nu Mou: Sage/Black Mage

THE JACKEL

Skyblade

07-19-2008, 03:59 PM

ljkkjlcm9

07-19-2008, 04:20 PM

Paravirs have the highest attack growth of all human classes, and are one of the strongest physical attack classes in the game. If you're training a physical attacker, you'll want to do it as a Paravir. It's not really surprising that a trained Paravir is doing better on attacks than Luso, although I'd like some information on what weapons they were both wielding and what Luso was trained as.

While that is true, the character was recruited as a Soldier of all things... so it's not like his initial 20 levels of attack growth were huge. I'm saying without touching him to level him at all... he was doing more damage. Luso was Dual Wielding whatever the name of the blade is to learn dual wield, and the Masamune. Either way, Luso was doing about 170 damage, and the Parivir was doing 190 (both from behind). The parivir elemental attacks normally hit at 2x damage normally, then geomancy bumps it up to 3x damage if it makes them weak to it. Therefore a single attack from Luso was about 85 damage, and a single attack from the Parivir was 63 or so. Luso is stronger with all the numbers, it's just the ability set up made the Parivir hit stronger.

THE JACKEL

Skyblade

07-20-2008, 04:10 PM

Ok, that's a new annoyance. Just because you've mastered a job, it doesn't mean you know all of that job's abilities. A job that has the Star and "Master" next to it is simply a job you have earned all the A-Abilities for. It does not include that job's Support or Reaction Abilities.

Roto13

07-20-2008, 04:50 PM

There are no more missions for me. >_> I'm at 292 missions completed and there's nothing left for me to do at the pubs.

Skyblade

07-20-2008, 04:51 PM

There are no more missions for me. >_> I'm at 292 missions completed and there's nothing left for me to do at the pubs.

Some missions only appear in certain cities. Also, have you checked your Quest Report? It lists unavailible quests, and you can follow the quest chain lines to find what should be next.

ljkkjlcm9

07-20-2008, 05:31 PM

oh and despite what you may think, there are only 300 quests in the game, not 400.

THE JACKEL

Skyblade

07-20-2008, 06:33 PM

oh and despite what you may think, there are only 300 quests in the game, not 400.

THE JACKAL

Assuming, of course, that there isn't a 100 quest sub-plot unlockable once you complete the main 300, which features Judgemaster Cid, Ritz, Marche, etc...

Yeah, I know, it won't happen, but I can dream.

Roto13

07-21-2008, 12:22 AM

ljkkjlcm9

07-21-2008, 02:10 AM

Crossblades

07-21-2008, 03:00 AM

I currently 10 hours into the game and have done 30 quests. I also have 9 clan members. I'm about to get the Assassin job now

Skyblade

07-21-2008, 05:34 AM

Then why the hell are there four hundred slots on the grid? >_>

Some missions only appear in certain cities. Also, have you checked your Quest Report? It lists unavailible quests, and you can follow the quest chain lines to find what should be next.

Yes. The only quest that A) I can do, and B) has a line coming out of it to show that there's more to the line of quests is the Nu Mou and the Rupees, and I tired it again and nothing happened.

I know if you do each of the two rubies quests like 4 times, a special new quest for them opens up. It's how you get the Shining Lute item for the Bard class for Hurdy.

THE JACKAL

You can actually get the Shining Lute as soon as you get Hurdy, it's an optional item instead of the first instrument you get for him.

But, yeah, that quest continues after you have done both quests. You have to do them a certain number of times, and you must finish them both in the same year in order to unlock the next part.

Oh, and the quest to get the Assassin rocks.
I really like that after Veis joins House Bowen, she's in every House Bowen quest after that. It's nice that she didn't join them and then never show up again.

Hazzard

07-21-2008, 08:09 AM

So, do you guys think I should purchase this game or not? It sounds like your first impressions are mixed reactions, I want a solid answer; yes or no?

qwertysaur

07-21-2008, 08:47 AM

So, do you guys think I should purchase this game or not? It sounds like your first impressions are mixed reactions, I want a solid answer; yes or no?

Yes!

KH-Cloudy

07-21-2008, 08:57 AM

RLOGAJOIGJEROJEROS

I post quick reply and it sends me to a blank page with tribal fusion.

eoprajgiofjsids might as well type it again D:

Yes, you should.

It can be quite a time killer :p

Anyways, I finished the game today with about 46 hours in and 110 quests done. With Luso as Parivir/Fighter, Illusionist/BlackMage(black magick became useless), WhiteMage/Summoner, Cid/Warrior, Adelle/Ninja, WhiteMonk/Dragoon(I thought jump would work, turned out it couldn't and didn't want to change the ability) All Characters except for Cid & Adelle were in their early 50's.

DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU FINISHED THE GAME

For the ending, I thought it would be a little different because before the final battle, Adelle was crying because Luso would be gone after the fight. So, I thought maybe before Luso goes, she'd hug him or say something to him and try to make him stay, but he'd still end up going home. (Kind've like FFX ending) and I was surprised Vaan and Penelo didn't say anything during the end.

EDIT: I found my other post above this..and I deleted it. And again, it sent me to a tribal fusion page. >.>

Roto13

07-22-2008, 01:28 AM

Pro-Tip for Adelle.

I didn't know this until today, but apparently to get Adelle's Heritor weapons, you have to master the last Heritor ability you got. That's when the new Notices appear in the pub.

I don't know how many of her Missions I have left to do. At least one. Probably two, judging by how close she is to mastering her class.

One other mission I know I'm missing is the one after Wanted: Mutadragons. (A4, second column, fourth row.) Anyone know how to make that one appear?

XZer0

07-22-2008, 04:39 AM

Just tried doing one of the Clan Trials, rules to complete the trial were Uphold the Law, Cannot use any Ranged abilities, kill the 2 Mobs...

seemed pretty simple. Until one of the Mobs Mind Controlled/Charmed one of my party members and they cast an AoE silence.... Law Violation... clan trial failed....

DS gets turned off. :mad2:

before that game seemed to be going pretty well. Managed to trade mats for this nice Healing staff at the Bazaar for my White Mage. Still need to get my main dude some more Soldier Abilities to round out his class; but having trouble getting gear with Skills compatible with my current Characters classes to drop but I'm still early on in the game about 10 hours in... so we'll see how it goes later on.

Arc_Master_14

07-22-2008, 06:53 AM

Yea the clan trials cheat horribly They seem easy but they never are. If the rule is no ranged abilities don't use any people that has any of them

KH-Cloudy

07-22-2008, 08:15 AM

They cheat with charm. :(

So failing any quest(esp. clan trials because I keep thinkin' they're easy.) are a pain and makes me not want to play it for a while.

Roto13

07-22-2008, 04:35 PM

I just did my 300th quest. :P

During the Adelle quests, you have to fight this brand new monster in a volcano. The last Wanted: Mark sidequest is another version of the monster, this time in a snow field. After you beat it, there's a notice in the pub, the notes of the person who created both of the monsters. Wander around a bit and you get the second volume of the notes. This one mentions that he actually made a third monster that runs on water, so I'm expecting to find that at some point. The last one was pretty tough, though, and my characters are all pretty close to level 99. :P

I also got an invitation to a tournament. I saved right next to it so I'll do that later today. The game doesn't end at 300 quests, it seems. :P

Skyblade

07-22-2008, 05:25 PM

Do you have more than 300 quests on the report?

And, no sign of a secondary plot yet (just say if there is, don't spoil it)? :(

Roto13

07-22-2008, 05:29 PM

Well I just finished the game, got some notices, and saved it. :P I don't know if there's another plot yet. We'll see.

The next quest I'm next to has a red exclamation point, though, and those don't end up on your quest report if I'm not mistaken.

ljkkjlcm9

07-22-2008, 05:31 PM

it's like FFTA 1, there are more quests, but it only says, "300" quests. And only 300 get marked down in that grid I believe. But just like the first game, there's more after you've done all of them.

THE JACKEL

Roto13

07-22-2008, 06:31 PM

So that tournament is called something like "The Last Mission" or whatever, so there may not be anything after that. Remember the monster I mentioned from that guy's notes? Well I got the third Notes notice and apparently it exploded. xP

Jesus Christ that tournament is cheap. Doctored stats much? My characters are all pretty close to level 99. There's no reason everyone should be able to move twice before I get to move once.

The first bout (of five) was against the Five Kings again, this time they were all level 99. I managed to win that one. (My characters got so much EXP, Hurdy actually leveled up twice.) I lost the second bout, vs. some guys I've never heard of. They killed my party before I got a chance to move. Not much I can do about it when my characters are already in their high 90s.

So yeah. I'm not doing that again. There's a difference between being challenging and being cheap. I'm just going to restart the game on hard mode.

Dragonsoul

07-23-2008, 06:11 AM

So, do you guys think I should purchase this game or not? It sounds like your first impressions are mixed reactions, I want a solid answer; yes or no?

Quick review after 20+ hours...

Story: 7
-The story isn't too interesting, but it's kinda good sometimes, nothing important
Characters: 7
-Same thing goes for the characters so far, they aren't up to par of something like Final Fantasy VI
Graphics - 8
-This game was originally being made to go on Gameboy Advance, then they switched to Nintendo DS I hear. Maybe I'm incorrect but I'm not excited about most of the graphics, some are good though.
Music - 8
-The music has some good stuff, but nothing super special.
Controls - 9
-There's a problem with the battle camera, you can't rotate it or tilt it or zoom in. Also, without a zoom in feature, that means you don't use the stylus at all since it's difficult to select stuff.
Battle System - 9
-Great stuff but there's a problem compared to Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. The battles take a long time to beat. This is because your characters don't do enough damage and also can't move many spaces in a move. That's what I've experienced so far.
Side Quests - 10
-There's a lot of stuff you can do, nothing extremely ultimate like Final Fantasy XII or The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but the proper amount of side quests for this type of game I think.
Overall: On track for a 8/10 score. I think the game has some great stuff but often seems to have flaws and it's super special to me. I felt the same about Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core earlier this year.

8/10 is a great score, but people's scores will range from 5/10 to 8/10. I recommend you rent this game, then decide. I hear it's an improvement over Final Fantasy Tactics Advance(which I haven't played). I liked Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings(9.5/10) and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions(10/10) more. :)

Roto13, what's your comment on this quick preliminary review? :choc2:?!

ljkkjlcm9

07-23-2008, 11:35 AM

battles are quick and easy for me now. Literally I can wipe out entire missions before the enemy moves... and this is on hard. So... it doesn't always drag that way. I think the story is trash though, thankfully I'm not playing it for that.

THE JACKEL

Dragonsoul

07-23-2008, 11:42 PM

How come the battles are fast for you?! Please give me your secret.

At the moment I've taken a break from playing FF I and FF Tactics A2. I've been overloaded on Final Fantasy and Japanese rpg's. Right now I want to focus on getting money together to upgrade my pc and play Mass Effect and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion! Eventually I'll add Starcraft 2 and Final Fantasy XIII to that list. I hope that it will come out for pc! :choc:!

KH-Cloudy

07-24-2008, 12:03 AM

Hahha, so many Final Fantasies to play.

FFIV, FFTA2(Quests), and finished up FFXII:RW

Roto13

07-24-2008, 12:31 AM

ljkkjlcm9

07-24-2008, 01:06 AM

Hahha, so many Final Fantasies to play.

FFIV, FFTA2(Quests), and finished up FFXII:RW

ha, I have FFTA2, FFIX, FFX, FFXII, FFT, FFVII:CC
yeah, I totally don't have enough time for basically any of them, but I tend to play this the most because it loads the fastest lol.

As Roto said, battles get faster as you get stronger. Of course, as you get faster, the "Rounds" missions take longer because you have more moves per round. Of course, you could always just wait constantly after you complete the objective such as gathering all the fruit.

THE JACKEL

Dragonsoul

07-24-2008, 12:32 PM

I decided to just skip all the older Final Fantasy games I haven't beaten(same goes for the Chrono/Xenogears, FF Tactics/Ivalice, Zelda, Ogre/Tactics, Front Mission, etc, games), that way I can focus on the best current games.

Try it! You'll have more time available for some other great stuff, like taking on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion! :)

Skyblade

07-24-2008, 02:41 PM

The battles get faster because you get stronger. :P That's really all there is to it. Though there are a couple of battles where being strong makes it take forever. xP I think I mentioned the battle with the unlimited Mimics. You have to survive for three rounds or something. The thing is, you can one-hit KO them with pretty much any character. My Seer could kill all of them at once. When they respawn, they get a turn, so they all act (and do almost no damage) and you just slaughter them all again and again. I got an assload of loot for it, though.

I love that mission. Best place in the game to gather loot. Since they're weak against every element, any Illusionist attack except Stardust will wipe them all out in one shot. With MP Channelling, Halve MP, and fast characters, you can get tons of loot there.

On the other hand, I hate the gathering the fruit mission. The law means you can't kill most of the stupid enemies, unless you use Reaction Commands.

Dragonsoul

07-31-2008, 05:14 AM

This thread has been quiet for five days, has everybody stopped playing? I had a period of like ten days just now of no playing this game and Final Fantasy I(PSP).

This is because I decided to upgrade my pc and get The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Mass Effect. Then I kept researching these games, primary Oblivion, but also Fallout 3, which I may buy, instead of playing FF I and FF Tactics A2. After starting to think about these legendary games(The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Mass Effect), I found it extremely hard to go back to playing FF I and FF Tactics, which I don't like as much.

After leaving FF Tactics A2 for a while and then coming back to it tonight, I have an updated review for it so far, 23 hours into the game...

Story - 7(Nothing too interesting)
Characters - 7(Nothing too interesting)
Graphics - 8(Better but I'm not super excited)
Music - 8(Better but I'm not super excited)
Controls - 8(Battle camera can't rotate, tilt, or zoom in, and as a result of this you can't easily use the stylus)
Battle System - 7(Battles are extremely long!! I'd prefer it if the characters could move twice as much distance, attack with twice as much damage, and everything else got their speed doubled.)
Side Quests - 9(A lot of great stuff, but I want some other type of side quests also)
Overall - 8(It's got great stuff but still some errors, I'll play the game but won't do any side quests that aren't necessary)

Final Fantasy I(PSP) I like around the same level, but that game came out 20 years earlier though so it's not the same.

Bottom line is that recently I've lost a huge amount of interest in FF I and FF Tactics A2 as a result of me starting to think about The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I need to work my way through these two games, upgrade my pc, and then get The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion!

What's your thought? :choc2:?!

Roto13

07-31-2008, 06:08 AM

I finished it, loved it, and now I'm replaying it on hard mode a teeny tiny bit at a time. Like two quests per day. :P

Yar

07-31-2008, 06:30 AM

I finished it blah blah blah.

:bow:

I need to play this game. I keep getting distracted from it. Seems like I wasted $40... I think the last mission I did was when the wolves are eating the chocobos or something. :/

Dragonsoul

07-31-2008, 11:59 AM

I wish Square Enix's other tactical rpg series, Front Mission, was more popular in Usa.

Roto13, I'm currently playing FF I(PSP) and FF Tactics A2(DS). I'll buy The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Mass Effect for pc later this year. I may Fallout 3 for pc later this year also. Next year I'll buy Starcraft 2 for pc and Final Fantasy XIII for PS 3 or Xbox 360.

What games are you currently playing and what are you going to buy this year and next year? Basically, what are you looking forward to? Also, how good is Fable 2 going to be? :p? ;p~!!

Roto13, you appeared to get this game on the day it came out, played it everyday for hours, and finished it with a 100% completion rate before anybody else, and posted a lot on the forums. It seems like you are the dominant FF Tactics A2 player here. This reminds me of when Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings came out, and I did the same exact thing you did. I totally dominated Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, you can check my thread here on it and on FFshrine's forum.

I may have this "dominating situation" with Fallout 3, Starcraft 2, and Final Fantasy XIII, will you also be doing that? I'll challenge you, see who finishes the games first with a 100% completion rate, a friendly challenge, if you are interested, and anybody else.

What's your thought? :choc2:?!

Yar

07-31-2008, 01:27 PM

I wish Square Enix's other tactical rpg series, Front Mission, was more popular in Usa.

Dammit, I still need to play my copy of that, too. :mad:

Roto13

07-31-2008, 04:01 PM

I don't like to race through games. xP At least not the first time I play them. When I play FF XIII, I'm going to take my time with it. :P

Dragonsoul

07-31-2008, 11:00 PM

Roto13, I'm currently playing FF I(PSP) and FF Tactics A2(DS). I'll buy The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Mass Effect for pc later this year. I may Fallout 3 for pc later this year also. Next year I'll buy Starcraft 2 for pc and Final Fantasy XIII for PS 3 or Xbox 360.

What games are you currently playing and what are you going to buy this year and next year? Basically, what are you looking forward to? Also, how good is Fable 2 going to be? :p? ;p~!!

:)

Roto13

07-31-2008, 11:04 PM

Not every thread has to turn into a complete timeline of every game you've ever played or plan to play in the future, you know. :P

Dragonsoul

08-03-2008, 08:33 AM

This rules! :)

Hazzard

08-03-2008, 11:50 AM

This rules! :)

You make me laugh so much...lol

ShunNakamura

08-14-2008, 05:28 AM

A couple things to note:
A - I did not read this whole thread
B - I have not yet finished the game yet.

With these two things in mind let me say this. I think A2 is a definite improvement over A so far. I can't truly explain why. With A I was always having to grudgingly force myself to play; however, while I am not as hooked with A2 as I am with Vanguard Bandits or Final Fantasy Tactics, I do enjoy playing A2.

Must admit that I am usually biased against these games though. I HATE learning things from items. And I hate not being able to direct my character's growth(I don't mind abilities have prerequisites but let me pick the order I learn them in). I also think they sorta hurt Blue Mages in this one. Seems that their blue magic lost some of its usual offensive options and the Blue Mages can't equip shields like I recall them being able to. Well I suppose having one of the best stat growths as a hume class still isn't bad, and at least they didn't take away their Mighty Guard or White Wind spells.

Ah well, I guess I just liked the traditional FFV style blue mages more than these FFTA2 blue mages.

Dragonsoul

08-14-2008, 12:16 PM

Yea I think people like FF T A2 more than FF T A. I haven't played FF T A2 or FF I(PSP) for a week or two, I've lost some interest since I'm not too interested in them and I'm more interested in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Texas Hold'em right now.

This thread hasn't gotten a post in ten days, did everybody finish the game already or lose interest? :-)

KH-Cloudy

08-16-2008, 01:45 AM

arcanedude34

08-16-2008, 09:16 PM

I don't ever dispatch, I'd rather do every mission, even those where you just show up and give them an item. I want more story!

THE JACKAL

Amen.

First imressions of TA2...

Graphics- Least important part of a game imo, but still part of the game. They are certainly a step-up from TA, and I'm glad they didn't try to make a half-assed 3d game just cuz they could *coughFFIIIcough* I like how much more innovative the graphics are (ie, every character who aids your party has an alternate face-picture of otherwise generic jobs, enemies can take up more than one space on the grid, etc.) Overall, better than TA (obviously) but the face pictues still somewhat annoy me. [7/10]

Plot- I'm not very far in (only about 5-6 story missions) but from what I can tell the story is somewhat simpler than the already simple plot of TA. You play as Luso, a student who one day finds a book that takes him to the world(?) of Ivalice. He has to fill out a magic journal to return homebut at the same time, seems more complex in some cases, especially character depth. Like I said, I'm not in far yet, but Cid and Adelle both seem to have some complication to them. [7/10]

Gameplay- Here we go. TA was always known for it's strategic gameplay (perhaps even more that Tactics itself) and from what I can tell, TA takes it to a whole new level. TA, as innovative as the species-specific jobs and the controversal law system were, was still a fairly straightforward game. Kill the baddies using your skills and weapons you've acquired thus far. (Actually, that sounds like all Final Fantasies in a nutshell : P) TA2 has TONS of diversity in it's missions. Simple missions such as delivering items to various NPCs (which are nothing more than humorous cutscenes, but still appreciated) gathering necessary ingredients for a recipe, protecting people who seem to be unable to do anything but hide in the corner of the screen, and more. Needless to say, the strategy from Tactics and TA carries over to form, imo, the best Tactics game (gameplay wise) thus far. [10/10]

Music- Not much to comment on. Mostly just arranged versions of music from Tactics, TA, and XII. Fortunately, all those games had very good soundtracks. [9/10]

Overall- This is a good game, and one of the few where I can pick it up at almost any time (another example of such a game being TA) and definately worth it. And yes, Dragoons still kick ass. [35/40]