Leveling up for the bored and curious

[UltimaLimit]

How do you usually level up your people? If you're bored/in need of training, here's how I train:

Usually, I have a weak Squire in the fight run around chopping things with his sword and throwing rocks until he can get Accumulate and Gained JP Up. Then I have my "strong" people fight while 1 new recruit sits safely in a corner and Accumulates for 30-50JP a turn. If any enemies happen to get to him, he beats the crap out of him because his Attack power is usually about 10-15 by that point. Just assign him a "bodyguard" until he gets the JP for Accumulate.

Once I get a Mediator, I kill all but one enemy (usually I let a Goblin survive in Mandalia Plains), Threaten it until it turns into a chicken, then corner it and start using Negotiate to take a bunch of money while the Squire's Accumulating (earning the Mediator JP). I use Threaten now and again so chicken doesn't recover, and double-team with a Thief if I have one handy. You can make so much money that way it isn't even funny, and eventually Negotiate can get stronger as the battle progresses--after 45min I got up to 1000Gil a pop. (Late in the game, you start out getting 1200+Gil a shot, and still it gets stronger gradually.)

I have one of my remaining people be a Monk--he gets hit by other allies for JP, then earns JP himself using Chakra. (Good for training beasts, since they can't Accumulate or anything.) I repeat all of this over and over and over, gaining up to 1000JP a person in one fight, until I'm bored out of my _______ mind and kill the last enemy.

Oh, and I use Yell a lot on the Squire, since once you get further in the game their levels are a joke, and they've a lot of catching up to do. Really, the hardest part of this strategy is A) getting Accumulate for the Squire and B) finding a fairly "safe" enemy the Mediator has a 100% chance of threatening.

Bored yet? I am. :p

[The Amazing Spiderman]

Destroying everything that stands against me before I get to a certain point, as usual.

If not, deep dungeon all the way.

I get pretty bored using the same units again and again just to gain levels, so that's why I don't use Accumulate, or something like that.

[Del Murder]

I just wander aimlessly and fight stuff. The battles are fun and level ups come pretty quickly. If a person has a turn and can't hit a monster I usually hit my own player with something weak to get some exp.

[UltimaLimit]

Quick questions: I'm training my Mediator. Does high Faith mean she'll Talk more effectively? If so, at what point does a Unit's Faith make it leave the party? (9- Brave will make a unit Chicken, will 90+ Faith make it leave your party?) Never really thought about this before, but I want to know. I need that Mediator.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

A permanent faith of... higher than 94 I think will make a member leave your party, and a permanent brave of less than 6 or so will make them leave as well.

As far as the mediator, I am not sure what effects their chances to hit, which seemed to suck for me no matter what I did.

[The Amazing Spiderman]

As far as I remember, Yes. Faith and zodiac sign compatibility modifies the success of rating.

[UltimaLimit]

Just be patient, Behold The Void. It might take a few tries but it'll work. It really depends on the enemy--some you can Talk easy, some hardly at all. Oddly enough, those with 25% Invite chance take many tries, while I've invited 14% with ease. Go figure. Thanks for your help everyone.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

I don't invite a lot because I don't tend to use monsters in fights. I did have Mustadio (as a meditator) raise people's faith so that they'd be stronger with their spells, however, so I am familiar with long drawn out battles where there is one chocobo I keep hitting down to low life so he heals himself and Mustadio trying to raise everyone's faith interminably while Ramza is screaming so that he can get more JP and someone's casting shell and protect over and over and so on.

[Ragnarok]

When I want to level up like crazy, I always bring a knight with me, kill every monster on a random battle but one, then kick down his speed and strength down to 1. I also equip everyone with basic skill and have everyone learn accumulate, then just accumulate like crazy and you can level everyone up by like 10 if you want each battle.

[UltimaLimit]

I find Knights to be tempermental since they have to be close by, and tend to get countered and get the crap knocked out of them. Not to mention the monster will hit them, get countered, and die when you least want it to. Threaten works best for me. Of course, I can see how an Archer or Mediator with Battle Skill or a Knight w/ Equip Gun could be of use... but anyway, try Goblins instead of Chocobos, they're easier to control because they have shorter move range and can't heal.

Time Mages casting Haste on Ramza and the low-level trainee also help (especially if the Trainee is the Time Mage since he'll get EXP/JP for it). Just keep Yelling and Accumulating, and Cheer Up to improve his Brave. Get the Time Mage ability that turns HP damage into MP damage and keeping the trainee alive is much easier. :thumb:

Another question: exactly what are the limits on how far you can go with Teleport? My Time Mage-turned-Archer is... unpredictable.

[The Amazing Spiderman]

100% your normal movement range (like if you didn't have teleport)
-10%/15%(don't remember) for each panel you pass from your movement range.

[Star of Penumbra]

100% your normal movement range (like if you didn't have teleport)
-10%/15%(don't remember) for each panel you pass from your movement range.

It's 10%. To expand on this a little: Rama as a Squire has a base move of 4. With Teleport set as his move ability, he can move up to 4 spaces with no chance of failure. If he tries to move 5 spaces, then the chance of success goes down to 90%. If he tries to move 6 spaces, it goes down to 80%, and so on. Note that Teleport ignores height. In my current playthorugh, I have Teleport on Ramza and Move+2 on everyone else, though that's partially due to the fact that Move+2 is more useful for everyone else, due to the way they're set up.

[UltimaLimit]

Though my Ramza has no Teleport, he does have a Move range of 7. (Move+2, Germinas Boots) I plan to go Bard and get Move+3 soon, so he'll be able to move even further. Combine that with a Ninja Throw range of 7, Concentrate for perfect accuracy, and Two Swords if he wants to get up in someone's face, he's damn near unescapable. :evilking:

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

Of course there's always the Ramza calculator who can hit you wherever you go.

[UltimaLimit]

I find my Calculator to be a bit iffy (hard to get JUST enemies or JUST allies), but maybe things'll improve when I get the "4" divisor. My Calc's currently mastering Priest, Time Mage, Oracle, etc. in order to get more magic to Calculate.

Yet another quick question: can summon spells be calculated?

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

No.

Mastering all the calculator's abilities usually allows you to tailor your hits well.

[Despotus]

We're a little off topic, but I'd just like to suggest using the height factor when calculating. It's very easy to keep your guys off of prime number heights, for example, or any whole number really, if you stick to heights of 0, 1, and x.5. That's the strategy I try to use when calculating. Let the spells rain down on any enemy unfortunate enough to get caught (vis a vis: Don't Move, Stop) on heights 2, 3, (4), or 5 etc... :radred:P.S. Summons can't be calculated :whimper:

[ArkBennett]

My way of training which really helped a bit with a nice lvl: 35 and up on chapter 1 with only 2 people (Ramza and A Female Soldier) is to give them both basic skill/guts send em to sweegy woods. Kills the skeletons permenentally with Phoenix down. And set your characters on Auto-Battle, Run Like A Rabbit. Then go take a shower and come back to find there attack power really high and if you have yell there speed will be good to! Plus your probably masterd your class to.

[dodhungry]

I prefer to use accumalate so much that when the monsters finally make it to the party they are so strong it usually kills the monsters in one blow. I fight at Mandalia Planes (I don't remember which way I come in). I have Ramza in whatever job he is on the far right (your right when looking at the screen) Another knight or lancer on the far left. A monk in between them with charka. A archer or black mage behind the monk. Then a whatever I feel like behind Ramza. This works great and the people on the front get a ton of exp for killing the monsters and the weaker ppl in the back are never in threats way. :D

[Despotus]

Gotta put my 2 cents in again... :twocents:
Take out most of your opponents in the safest and most destructive way possible (mwahhahaha!!!). Then with the last poor bastard, Frog 'em, and either put them to sleep or stop them, or just 'Speed Break' them down to 1 speed. If you have Ramza's 'Guts' skill you can have him 'yell' at the other four soldiers to boost their speed, and I like to 'steal Gil' from the helpless little froggie with 4 "thieves" surrounding him. Gets you good exp/jp and not to mention Gil, Gil, Gil! The higher your "thieves' speed gets, the more gil they steal... :rock: :radred:

[guardbreak]

Bored? Want more excitement? Dare to just level up during the progress of the story, including any random battles along the way. There's a challenge developing as the story goes on because the enemy is always stronger and your every action...critical!
Don't cheat by masterminding super-warriors way ahead of their time! :nonono:

[feioncastor]

How do you usually level up your people? If you're bored/in need of training, here's how I train:

Usually, I have a weak Squire in the fight run around chopping things with his sword and throwing rocks until he can get Accumulate and Gained JP Up. Then I have my "strong" people fight while 1 new recruit sits safely in a corner and Accumulates for 30-50JP a turn. If any enemies happen to get to him, he beats the crap out of him because his Attack power is usually about 10-15 by that point. Just assign him a "bodyguard" until he gets the JP for Accumulate.

Once I get a Mediator, I kill all but one enemy (usually I let a Goblin survive in Mandalia Plains), Threaten it until it turns into a chicken, then corner it and start using Negotiate to take a bunch of money while the Squire's Accumulating (earning the Mediator JP). I use Threaten now and again so chicken doesn't recover, and double-team with a Thief if I have one handy. You can make so much money that way it isn't even funny, and eventually Negotiate can get stronger as the battle progresses--after 45min I got up to 1000Gil a pop.

I have one of my remaining people be a Monk--he gets hit by other allies for JP, then earns JP himself using Chakra. (Good for training beasts, since they can't Accumulate or anything.) I repeat all of this over and over and over, gaining up to 1000JP a person in one fight, until I'm bored out of my _______ mind and kill the last enemy.

Oh, and I use Yell a lot on the Squire, since once you get further in the game their levels are a joke, and they've a lot of catching up to do.

Bored yet? I am. :p


I use a very similar strategy. I find it very effective, but unfortunately, when you're level 70 by the time you get to Dorter for the first time, well, the game just isn't as fun.

The most fun parts of the game are those that involve struggling, such as fighting Velius at the right level.

But if you're trying to level quickly and easily, this may be the best way to do it.

Feion

[UltimaLimit]

I agree. I try to make sure that I have enough skills/brute strength to have a good chance of winning in storyline battles, but I don't reach L70 before Dorter (either literally or as a figure of speech used to make a point). Usually I'm around L20 or so. Generally I train like mad at the beginning of a chapter, then go on a rampage and take down red dot after red dot. I still tend to have difficulty at major battles (VELIUS!!!), but generally I can win them in fewer tries with less stress. It's in Chapter 4 that I really go wild. I've even tried the "God" technique (see Gods and Goddesses) with moderate success.

[feioncastor]

I agree. I try to make sure that I have enough skills/brute strength to have a good chance of winning in storyline battles, but I don't reach L70 before Dorter (either literally or as a figure of speech used to make a point). Usually I'm around L20 or so. Generally I train like mad at the beginning of a chapter, then go on a rampage and take down red dot after red dot. I still tend to have difficulty at major battles (VELIUS!!!), but generally I can win them in fewer tries with less stress. It's in Chapter 4 that I really go wild. I've even tried the "God" technique (see Gods and Goddesses) with moderate success.
I've actually been to level 70 when I went to Dorter for the first time, but I've also been at level 20 when I went to Golgarand Execution Site, which is pretty low for that part.You should really be maybe 25 or 30 by then. But a good challenging level for the first fight at Dorter would be about 5 or so. 20 is pretty high. 70 is just way too high.

Feion

[RedCydranth]

I was wondering how you went about powering up your characters. I think i do it cheaply but effectively.

With all NON main characters except Ramza, I learn Accumulate first. I then go into battle and have everyone accumulate until all the monsters come to fight, take them out until one is left. Let it hurt people until someone is near death (usually a panther or goblin, chocobos heal and become a huge pain) then win. Every should always have the Gained JP Up squire ability on. Repeat until someone can become a monk/preist. Take that job and secondary the squire abilities and accumulate again as long as possible but heal with the monk and preist (Monks are better for unlimited chakra.) Get into a 5 square + on a flat surface (theres on on the plains you first meet Algus at, I only fight there) Make the monk the center and every turn use chakra. If the monster misses (Also make sure no one has counter tacke or any harmful counters on, don't kill the enemy early!) have the monk use Reoeating fist, it does poor damage but will get him JP none the less. Once I get someone to mediator, its all downhill. Lower one enemy's brave (at begining find the monster with the lowest brave overall and lower his brave) making him transform to a chicken, THEN Mimic Daravon him to sleep. Accumulate away. I've sat there doing this for over an hour once. One guy was a new monk and by the time I was done I had enough JP to master the job. One other thing (while the mediator makes sure our chicken friend is both asleep and chickened) to boost one person is get them the reaction ability that raises speed (Archer ability I think) then lower another characters attack to 1 (Lower Brave, your mediator conveniently has that) and repeatedly hit the person with Speed Save dealing low damage. Eventually he will get like 4-5 moves for everyone elses 1, keep accumulating with that guy and Shazam, uber powering up. Really useful if you want to get the summoner class done quicker. Later on, have someone do the speed save trick while Ramza Screams at them, or himself if he's the target of powering up.

For NPCs, I usually use Knight ability, magic break every time to get JP. Or I have two NPCs with theif as their sub(or major) and keep stealing eachothers exp. Another nice way to get JP is to have Mediator skills and raise eachothers brave or faith. Like with Rafa and Malak, raise rafas faith and Malaks brave, then lower eachothers opposite. (Rafa's brave, Malak's faith) That way Rafa becomes the ultimate item finder eventually (if you lower/raise peoples brave/faith enough it will slowly permanenty go up or down.) Rafa becomes on decent Calculator and Malak become a great Ninja. For Mustadio I'd Don't Move people a lot by shooting their leg.

Anyone got a more efficient way?

[BG-57]

I use Accumulate on generic units and Ramza. Once I get Beowulf I use him to disable and immobilize the enemy. The other professions I use to gain JP every round include Calculators and Knights.

[dodhungry]

Accumulate is great. Its not cheap, its there for the player to use so use it.
First and foremost I gain enough money to buy characters with the name I want and with good faith/brave for the jobs they will be doing. Most of the time as you know the default characters suck the big ens.
What I usually do to power up my characters is to first master everyone at squire first, and even most of the time let them become level 8 squires.
After they master squire, I take them make one an archer, two a knight, one chemist, and one a black mage. I always fight at the Mandilia Plains, with the two knights on the front row with the archer in between them, the chemist behind Ramza on the right (looking at the party with the edge of the map in the back) and the black mage to the left of the chemist. This set up always works, and if you keep Accumulateting you can power up and become bringers of death, destruction, and total chaos in no time.

[Del Murder]

I went ahead and meged the threads because they are the same.

[RedCydranth]

Why, thank you.

[Edgar]

The Deep Dungeon fight against Hydras are very interesting. It keeps me awake.

[RedCydranth]

But that's not a good battle area for leveling up you guys for huge spans really. I suggest a random battle on Mandalia Plains. Easy enemies, even when the dragons start showing up there, its not that difficult.

[Wiegrahf42]

My friend has been going insane becuase of my leveling up. I sit and talk to him on the phone while accumulating for about 20 minutes. He of course wants to know what that :skull: :skull: :skull: :skull: ing
whooshing sound is. I say that I can't hear anything and that hes just :screwy:

[darkblade117]

i just use ramza to play... it's fun getting all master(sorta) or level 100 by the end of chapter 1...