Tips for Tactics

[fat_moogle]

I'm interested to play Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions as I've heard how good the Tactics games are, but I suck at this style of gameplay. Does anyone have any tips for a newbie that could help me if I decide to take the plunge? :)

[Fynn]

We need Wolf in here. FFT is insanely robust.

[fat_moogle]

We need Wolf in here. FFT is insanely robust.
Will I be overwhelmed and then put off straight away? xD

[Formalhaut]

We need Wolf in here. FFT is insanely robust.
Will I be overwhelmed and then put off straight away? xD

I'm actually still playing FFT: WoTL (though on a hiatus on account of Persona!) and while it does have a complex system, it DOES get easier as time goes by. By about a few hours in, you start to get the knack.

In terms of beginning tips:

- Try to have a nice array of job classes. Have at least one party member specialise as a Chemist, because they are better at healing in my opinion than White Mages. They're faster, can throw quite far and doesn't use up valuable MP. The only advantage White Mages have are that they can heal multiple allies.

- I'd refrain from using crossbows. They need a line of sight to shoot, which your archers don't really need. Use bows instead, as they can curve around obstructions.

- Get JP Boost as fast as you can. I stick it on almost religiously except for tricky story battles.

- When fighting, don't have your members spread too thinly. If one gets rushed and falls, your other team-mates are going to have a tough job getting to them fast enough to revive them. Chemists help, but having your party members at least two moves away is ideal.

- Knights are very dependable in the early game. Get Rend Power quickly so that enemy attacks deal very little damage. This game doesn't give you massive pools of HP and your members can fall fast under sustained assault, so mitigating damage is a very viable tactic.

- For any characters that will not specialise in magic, a low faith stat will help massively in reducing damage. Likewise, ALL characters will benefit from a high bravery stat. When you gain access to Ramza's 'Steel' ability, and the Orator job class, you can manually boost up these stats, some of which will permanently stick.


I'd probably think of more, but it has been awhile. Hope that helps!

[Raistlin]

It's actually not that bad once you get the hang of it. Some newbie hints off the top of my head (and note that I have most of my experience on the original PS1 version):

1. Regular battles level up with you (as in, the monsters are a closer level to your highest level characters), but story battles don't. You can also keep battles going indefinitely to gain exp and JP by nearly killing or disabling the last monster, and then attacking your own characters.

2. Gained JP Up is a great skill and should be learned for all characters, and is worthwhile to have on them for much of the game.

3. Try to have a balanced party. Item and/or White Magic are good secondary skills to have on characters, even later in the game.

4. Just have fun exploring different jobs and abilities. Pretty much all of the jobs have their uses, and they can all be used to beat the game. Sometimes you just want to keep a character on a class for a short time to learn a couple of its abilities (e.g., Thief and Move +2, and maybe enough job levels to help reach Ninja for fighting characters), so don't feel like you need to learn everything a class has before moving on.

[Formalhaut]

It's actually not that bad once you get the hang of it. Some newbie hints off the top of my head (and note that I have most of my experience on the original PS1 version):

1. Regular battles level up with you (as in, the monsters are a closer level to your highest level characters), but story battles don't. You can also keep battles going indefinitely to gain exp and JP by nearly killing or disabling the last monster, and then attacking your own characters.

The Squire ability 'Focus' is very useful in this regard. If I'm in a regular battle which I'm actively using as a 'level-up' battle, I'll put fundaments on as a secondary ability and spam focus whenever I can. Making the last monster a toad all but assures that, as toad has to be actively removed: it doesn't wear off over time.

[Raistlin]

I assume Focus is the same thing as PS1's Accumulate? Damn name changes. Formy does bring up another good tip: it's always good to do something. Every successful action gains you additional exp/JP, so it's always good to have some action to do, even if it's largely pointless and you're still miles away from the enemy monsters. Squire's Accumulate/Yell (or whatever they're called in WotL) are good for that sort of thing, and make them useful to have as abilities early on.

[Formalhaut]

I assume Focus is the same thing as PS1's Accumulate? Damn name changes. Formy does bring up another good tip: it's always good to do something. Every successful action gains you additional exp/JP, so it's always good to have some action to do, even if it's largely pointless and you're still miles away from the enemy monsters. Squire's Accumulate/Yell (or whatever they're called in WotL) are good for that sort of thing, and make them useful to have as abilities early on.

It is the ability that raises your attack power by +1. But Raist is correct: always do something! If you start a battle in an already tactically sound position, I see no reason why you couldn't spam 'Focus' and wait for the monsters to arrive.

On the subject of secondary abilities, useful combinations can very advantageous. Fundaments, the Squire abilities, give you Focus, which is immediately useful.

Another would be to equip an Archer with the Arts of War secondary ability from the Knight. Arts of War deals with stat decreases and the breaking of armour to cripple your foe. What better way to do that than with a long-range ability! By the time they approach, they will have been weakened enough for your front-liners to pound them. Experiment with different ability combinations, and see what works. Items is always a safe option, as mentioned previously. A Black Mage with another magical secondary ability is a very powerful force, especially summon: all summon spells do not have friendly fire and target only who they are meant to target.

[VeloZer0]

I don't need to reiterate what has been said, so I will add:

Push the L & R buttons to add other party members. It may sound condescending to mention this, but you would be surprised how many people (myself included) who couldn't figure out how to beat the first battle with just one character.

Make sure that you go into battle with at least one character that can heal/revive party members

Position your party so you can bring everyone to bear on a single enemy at a time. Don't fight 5v5, try to fight a series of 5v1s.

Don't plan on soaking up damage, even your higher HP characters die very quickly under focus fire.

[Wolf Kanno]

We need Wolf in here. FFT is insanely robust.

I believe VeloZer0 is the person you should really be waiting for as I'm pretty sure his twinking knowledge is better than mine.

I'll try to not repeat things others have said.

Job Classes:

Squires and Chemist are base classes, while they are not good statistically or equipment-wise the Fundamental/Item abilities are some of the most diverse and useful secondary abilities to combine with more powerful classes. You've already heard about JP Up but also the chemist Auto-potion skill and Safguard abilities are also useful for certain classes and battles so don't overlook them.

The secondary classes: Knight, Archer Monk, Black Mage, White Mage, and Thief are largely the most well rounded classes if you don't really want to delve too far into min/max or overspecialization. Many of these classes can carry your through most of the game and have decent stat upgrades for characters. Monk, Thief, and the Mages have great skill sets that make great sub-abilities for more advanced classes while Archer and Knight are powerful classes that benefit from utilizing advance class skill sets like Duel Wield and and Vanish. They may not be as flashy as Ninja's and Arithmeticians but these classes are potent enough to last the whole game with the right build.

The Advanced Classes tend to be more fun as they all have special niches they fulfill in battle and they tend to be better with cross pollination of abilities with each other. Experiment and have fun with them as you unlock them. Many of them can be game breakers with the right build.

When in doubt about a job class, it's safest to put Ramza in the class as his stats are generally above average overall and he tends to excel in any profession you put him in unless you seriously borked his stats. If need be, I can give you a breakdown of all the classes.

Stat stuff

The gender of the unit is not terribly important, it only affects stats in a minor way and it's kind of redundant since you can modify this with classes.

Your characters stats are altered by whichever class they are in when they level up, so it's sometimes important not to linger in a lousy class for too long if this aspect is important to you. Basically every class modifies your characters stats and when they level up, stats that get lower don't get bonuses whereas stats raised in the class will level up. Squire and Chemist for instance give low gains for your stats (barring Ramza's version of the Squire class) so don't linger in the class too long, whereas Mime and Ninja give exceptional stat growth for the most part. Story characters have unique classes and while characters like Cid and Balthier get some overall good stat growth, others like Malak and Mustadio should probably be sent through other classes quickly once you've obtained the needed skills from their starting classes.

Two stats that are easy to alter and more important than you would think is a characters Bravery and Faith. You can artificially raise and lower these two stats in battle from anywhere between 0 and 100 to gain quick benefits in battle. If you raise or lower these stats enough on a party member during battle then it will actually raise or lower their stat permanently after battle. This is important as too high or faith or low of bravery will cause party members to abandon your army.

Bravery increases the damage output of some melee class abilities like Monk. The stat also affects the chances of activating a counter move. It's easy to read this as the percentage is largely whatever the number is your character has so for example, Ramza begins with 70 Bravery, this means he has a 70% chance of countering an attack if he has a Counter move. Bravery maxes out at 100 artificially but you can permanently raise it into the 98% range with Ramza's Yell and the Orator's Praise abilities. For every five points Brave is raised you get a permanent point added to your characters base Bravery. The reverse is true as well though. You should try to max out most party members bravery but leave one character with low bravery. The only downside to high Bravery is that it greatly reduces your chance of obtaining rare items through the Move-Find Item ability. The squares that hold the item have a common item (usually a potion or Phoenix Down) and a rare one of a kind item and only a character with low Bravery stands a chance of getting the item. Be careful though, a character whose Bravery drops below 15 permanently will flee your army out of cowardice and become lost forever. If the character's Bravery is reduced below that in battle, they will turn into a chicken and gain one point of bravery every turn but become uncontrollable and flee into the corner of the map.

Faith is a bit more complicated... It modifies magic power damage like Bravery does for melee but it also affects the hit ratio as well. What makes this complicated is that a if a character with high faith uses magic on another character with high faith, the spell will be both potent and will most likely hit. If a character with low faith casts magic on a character with low faith as well the spell will most likely miss and on the off chance it does land, it will do pitifully. This gets complicated with mixes as having low faith means magic attacks will not land often and probably do mediocre damage but it also means curative magic will do the same. Sucks trying to heal that Knight whose lost most of his health when half the time you cast the spell it misses and when it does land, it only does slightly better than a Hi-Potion. It get really infuriating with the Raise spell as well. If you don't plan on using mages, a Chemist or Monk can easily take their place in a pinch. If you plan on really using the classes, then you'll want to invest in getting the Arithmetician class as soon as possible. Low Faith doesn't do anything against you but having high permanent Faith of 95 or more will make the character leave your army to join the clergy.

A character's Zodiac sign also factors into many things in the game but this falls into some deeper mechanics that are not important to enjoy the game so I'll skip this part.

Equipment
One of the more overlooked aspects of the game by non-veterans, your party's equipment is important as you can modify certain stats that you normally couldn't in other RPGs. While I don't need to explain the obvious stats, three to keep in mind are your HP/MP, your Move stat and your Jump stat. HP and MP are modified by class and growth within them but if you need a boost, lots of gear will actually boost these stats temporarily as long as the gear is equipped. The real strength of Heavy armor is that it not only raises your defense a bunch but can add on an extra 100hp to a beefy character. Magic armor does the same for mages but with MP instead and light armor will raise both stats but not as significantly as the extremes. Keep this in mind if you have a character who is getting killed too quickly or blowing through MP too fast.

Many Accessories can raise a characters Move and Jump parameters. These stats are determined by job class and can be modified with Movement Skills but if you want more fun with trying out the more exotic Movement skills like Move=MP UP and Move-Find Item but don't want to sacrifice a characters mobility, you can uses accessories like Battle Boots to raise the movement skill of a character. This also becomes important in Bodyguard missions when you need a healer to reach a suicidal NPC before they get themselves killed.

Weapons
If you've played FFXII, I may not need to explain this part but weapons in Tactics tend to work mechanically different from most FFs except FFV where they were inspired from. Basically the damage factor of weapons is determined by multiple stats, not just your characters attack power. Knives and Ninja blades utilize both physical power and the units speed stat, poles utilize the Magic stat instead of physical power and so forth. Some weapons also have unique properties like Axes doing randomized damage or Bows being able to fire over high vertical environments or guns ignoring defense stats. Just keep this in mind.

[fat_moogle]

Thank you for the replies! I will make sure to have a proper read through of all the comments before I play the game. I might not get around to it for a while so please, if anyone thinks of anything else, then let me know here :D

[Formalhaut]

Thank you for the replies! I will make sure to have a proper read through of all the comments before I play the game. I might not get around to it for a while so please, if anyone thinks of anything else, then let me know here :D

Just to add on to what Kanno said: The monk class is a very powerful class that you can get fairly early on. It is powerful, comes with some excellent offensive ranged and close-ranged abilities, as well as some very handy healing abilities which don't cost any MP. Ramza works exceptionally well as a Monk.

[Fynn]

Make Ramza a Dark Knight. In general, the Dark Knight is a pretty ludicrous class. And to unlock it, you have to master quite a bit of classes, so even if it wasn't super broken, byt the time you got it you'd have a very solid character anyway.

But the Dark Knight is just so very, very satisfying...

[VeloZer0]

Ramza Dark Knight may be good, but the Dark Knight skillset on Super-Squire Ramza is much better. :D

Though there are lots of really powerful twinking things you can do IMO it is a lot more fun to play through and learn about the classes yourself. But I have a few more general pieces of advice.

- Always save after every battle. You can loose characters permanently, so even if you can win the battle is better to just reset the game if a character gets permanently killed. (when they turn into a treasure chest/crystal)
- If you are ever prompted to save while still in an area that means you have to fight multiple battles in a row. It is a good idea to save to a separate slot so that if you can't beat a battle you can go back to your original save and level up before going back to the location.
- If you are casting a spell or any other move that require charging you can press the left arrow to show a a list of all character turns and when the move will be performed.
- You can press triangle and go to Turn List to see when everyone will move

[fat_moogle]

Just bought this game for £3.99 in one of SE's many PlayStation Store sales. I'll have to have a play around, take note of your tips, and let you know how I get on!

[Fynn]

Did you get the original or PSP remake?

[fat_moogle]

The PSP Remake, War of the Lions.

Are there any gameplay differences I should know about?

[Fynn]

I think there's some balancing stuff, you get two new jobs, and two new characters. And that fantastic translation. It's really an improvement in every way aside from battle animations.

[fat_moogle]

Well I'm glad to hear its been improved upon. Looking forward to starting it soon :)

[Formalhaut]

Well I'm glad to hear its been improved upon. Looking forward to starting it soon :)

That's the version I'm currently using. I like it!

[fat_moogle]

Well I've started it! Only done the first fight as I started it late last night and was too tired, but I've just gone through most of the tutorial. I'm as ready as I'll ever be now xD

[Formalhaut]

Well I've started it! Only done the first fight as I started it late last night and was too tired, but I've just gone through most of the tutorial. I'm as ready as I'll ever be now xD

That long-ass tutorial... the worst thing is at least half of them are practically mandatory to get a good grasp of the mechanics.

[fat_moogle]

Well I've started it! Only done the first fight as I started it late last night and was too tired, but I've just gone through most of the tutorial. I'm as ready as I'll ever be now xD

That long-ass tutorial... the worst thing is at least half of them are practically mandatory to get a good grasp of the mechanics.
It makes Quistis' tutorials look like a general chit-chat in comparison xD

I went through everything apart from the miscellaneous stuff that covers the zodiac symbols and stuff. I feel I'll just confuse myself if I look too deep in to it.

[Formalhaut]

You really don't need to consider Zodiac symbols unless you're really wanting to get into the mechanics. 99% of people probably won't bother looking at them in detail.

[VeloZer0]

I've read through the whole battle mechanics guide and looked at the formula and algorithm for every single move in the game and I still don't bother to keep track of the zodiac signs. :lol:

[fat_moogle]

I've just made it past the Merchant City of Dorter, the fight with the archers and black mages. Took me quite a few attempts, but I got there in the end. Ramza is my Knight and I used a Black Mage, Archer and Chemist. It's quite satisfying when you manage to get through a battle :)

[FFNut]

It's a great game! Biggest tip I can give is pay attention to the birth signs of people. Play to strengths and try not to put someone in a weakens position with them.

[VeloZer0]

Dorter is a tough one for a first time player. My first playthrough I think I had more trouble with it that any other battle in chapter 1. (Well, at least once I figured out how to add characters other than Ramza to the first battle....^^;)

[escobert]

Reading all these comments makes me want to go back and play this. It's been years and years. Such a great story and fun (hard) battles.

[Formalhaut]

Dorter is a tough one for a first time player. My first playthrough I think I had more trouble with it that any other battle in chapter 1. (Well, at least once I figured out how to add characters other than Ramza to the first battle....^^;)

Dorter is tough because you're up against several long-ranged enemies. The biggest tip is to spread out (so they don't hit all of you with magic) and try and close the gap. Having an archer or two yourself helps, and you can actually use Aim against the Black Mages while they're casting spells.

[fat_moogle]

Dorter is a tough one for a first time player. My first playthrough I think I had more trouble with it that any other battle in chapter 1. (Well, at least once I figured out how to add characters other than Ramza to the first battle....^^;)

Dorter is tough because you're up against several long-ranged enemies. The biggest tip is to spread out (so they don't hit all of you with magic) and try and close the gap. Having an archer or two yourself helps, and you can actually use Aim against the Black Mages while they're casting spells.
I found all the fights after Dorter easy, but it took me quite a few attempts to fell that whoreson dog at Ziekden Fortress.

I saved after that and I will start Chapter 2 tonight.

[Formalhaut]

The main issue you will have later on is your guest characters eventually becoming just another part of your team. Which for me meant they were terribly underleveled, and I sorta lost motivation trying to get them up to speed. Grinding is a slow process in this game.

[VeloZer0]

I never felt like it was grinding, as fighting battles is the meat and potatoes of the game.

[fat_moogle]

Still haven't got around to starting Chapter 2 yet.

Did you guys take on new characters early on? The ones that were offered to me were lower Bravery and Faith than my guys at the minute, so I think I'll leave them.

[VeloZer0]

You need Alicia and Lavian in the party to acquire a unique accessory later in the game. (No quest, just to be able to buy the thing). The accessory is extremely good, but in no means necessary.

Even if you don't want someone it is always better to accept them, de-equip all of their stuff, and then dismiss them, :) As for other characters that you get from now on, they are all special so I would hold on to them even if you never use them.

[Formalhaut]

You need Alicia and Lavian in the party to acquire a unique accessory later in the game. (No quest, just to be able to buy the thing). The accessory is extremely good, but in no means necessary.

Even if you don't want someone it is always better to accept them, de-equip all of their stuff, and then dismiss them, :) As for other characters that you get from now on, they are all special so I would hold on to them even if you never use them.

Levelling up the 'unique' characters can be a pain if your main group has marched on ahead, but I would generally keep the unique characters. I know a few are required for sidequests, though. It might be good to read up on that.

[fat_moogle]

Some more good Tips for Tactics, guys. Thank you! As for side quests, I never even thought there would be any in a game like this. I barely seem to have time to play it though so I think I'll just stick to the main story.

[Formalhaut]

Some more good Tips for Tactics, guys. Thank you! As for side quests, I never even thought there would be any in a game like this. I barely seem to have time to play it though so I think I'll just stick to the main story.

I think a few crop up in chapter four? I think? But you're right, this isn't a side-questy game.

[VeloZer0]

Of course side quests consist exclusively of extra battles to fight. No mini-games here. :D

[FFNut]

Just replaying War of the Lions right now and remembered one of my favorite combinations of people. To put beside each other. I team up a Mage and a Monk together for battles. The Monks are easily over powered in the first few chapters of the game. Plus they have the Chalkra ability which is free healing for Hp and MP. Have them beside an offensive Mage and you have two people who can attack at distance with free HP and MP regeneration who can take care of business up close. I also keep the squire abilities as a secondary quite often as I use them to up attack when things are out of reach with focus. Hope you are enjoying this so far

[VeloZer0]

A monk with the squire skillset can also turn out a little broken. Unlike everyone else who uses Strength * Weapon the monk uses Strength squared. Which means raising it a few points with Accumulate/Focus makes them power up extremely quickly.

[fat_moogle]

I just remembered that I made this thread, but I had no idea it was so long ago! How that time has flown by. I never got around to starting chapter 2 after I last posted in this thread almost exactly two years ago. Seeing as I started up the game again (seeing as it's been so long and I forgot what happened at the beginning / how to play) I thought I'd revisit this.

[Foo]

I'm going to start a Tactics replay myself. It is a really fun game and the level of customization you can do for each character adds to the replayability.

Maybe I'll setup one of those "pass-the-controller" kind of deals with some friends and have Tactics night :monster: