I swear, early game stealing makes Cloud seem like an amateur thief

So I'm replaying VII, and I'm at the point where you first get Steal (obviously). So I begin stealing ghost hands so I can W-Item them later, as well as ethers from Deenglows for the 750 Gil they sell each.

Just me, but at this point of the game stealing takes an inane amount of time! I like to think that a Level 17 Cloud as at the very least some degree of success stealing. Call it bad luck, but this brief money making escapade is taking longer than I expected.

Oh, and stealing a striking staff from Eligor in the train graveyard took forever too. :mad2:

You're not alone. I feel like stealing takes an age and a half. I was trying to get a Hardedge from the soldiers in Shinra HQ and it took FOREVER. :mad2:

Cloud is prevented from moving too deftly due to his giant hair and sword.

In all seriousness, I rarely bothered with stealing in this game.

I always thought stealing against random encounters should be instant steals for whatever they're holding (unless it's something ridiculously rare). Why can't I be right?

I always gave Steal to Tifa because it always makes sense to me that the thief is the hand-to-hand combat expert. Although mugging with Vincent is great. I agree though, stealing early on is incredibly difficult, but early on in the game is when the steals are the best!

Jiro, our playthrough is so similar! Tifa is also my thief, Vincent is also my mugger.

I actually haven't had too much trouble stealing this time around, but then again I don't utilize it very much.

I tried letting Yuffie do all the stealing hoping she can steals materias from enemies as well. :(

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Originally Posted by Jiro

I always gave Steal to Tifa because it always makes sense to me that the thief is the hand-to-hand combat expert. Although mugging with Vincent is great. I agree though, stealing early on is incredibly difficult, but early on in the game is when the steals are the best!

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Originally Posted by Shorty

Jiro, our playthrough is so similar! Tifa is also my thief, Vincent is also my mugger.

I actually haven't had too much trouble stealing this time around, but then again I don't utilize it very much.

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Isn't it weird how our minds work? I always have Tifa using steal too. Though like Christmas says, it would also make sense using Yuffie seeing as she steals materia from nearly every smurfer she meets.

I'm currently tracking her bony ass down in Wutai on my playthrough.

I never use steal in any game, even when I have a set thief like Zidane. Rikku's the exception, as her entire limit break is centered around it (and then I mostly can't be arsed) and you have have have to have good items to customize your weapons.

If all my character's levels were equal, I would choose Tifa, but Cloud's extra 3 or so levels gives him that (seemingly nonexistent) edge.

Wouldn't mind so much but stealing is only effective in the early game :(

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Originally Posted by Formalhaut

If all my character's levels were equal, I would choose Tifa, but Cloud's extra 3 or so levels gives him that (seemingly nonexistent) edge.

Wouldn't mind so much but stealing is only effective in the early game :(

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No, the edge is there. The Steal success rate is affected by your level against their level. If your level is above theirs, the odds are very good. If your level is below theirs, the odds are very bad.

That's really all there is to it.

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Originally Posted by Tifa's Boobs

I never use steal in any game, even when I have a set thief like Zidane. Rikku's the exception, as her entire limit break is centered around it (and then I mostly can't be arsed) and you have have have to have good items to customize your weapons.

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You can also get those items without stealing them, can't you? And you can get great stuff when you steal in the other games...! I really don't understand why it's different between games. Thieves - who can steal - are very useful 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time there are no items worth stealing but even at the beginning of games having a stockpile of potions is great. Not having to spend money on medicine means more for WEAPONS :radred:

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Originally Posted by Jiro

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Originally Posted by Tifa's Boobs

I never use steal in any game, even when I have a set thief like Zidane. Rikku's the exception, as her entire limit break is centered around it (and then I mostly can't be arsed) and you have have have to have good items to customize your weapons.

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You can also get those items without stealing them, can't you? And you can get great stuff when you steal in the other games...! I really don't understand why it's different between games. Thieves - who can steal - are very useful 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time there are no items worth stealing but even at the beginning of games having a stockpile of potions is great. Not having to spend money on medicine means more for WEAPONS :radred:

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It's just a smurfing hassle.

It takes awhile for me to steal stuff in Shinra HQ, but other than that, I don't use the materia that often. It just doesn't bug me, I suppose!

i stole everything with zidane, you get some much equipment that way

but i didn't use steal until i built it up to mug in ff7
just more efficient that way

At least with steal you are "eventually" guaranteed an item, drops are something else entirely. Again with the same play-through, I'm trying to collect some graviballs from Deenglows to use them against the Midgar Zolom to gain an early Beta, and the item drop rate seems laughably low as well.

Who gives a flying smurf? Seriously.

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Originally Posted by Bubbaforever

Who gives a flying smurf? Seriously.

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Well, it does get annoying when there's something you want, and you don't wanna kill the enemy so you have one person using Steal and the other two just defend. Sounds harmless enough, but after 10 minutes in the same battle, it gets annoying.

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Originally Posted by Bubbaforever

Who gives a flying smurf? Seriously.

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That's not very nice, bucko. :(

Well, Cloud is an amateur thief...

Man, I'm sorry everyone. I was in a bad place on Sat night.

Any posts from that time period by me... can just be ignored.

Apology accepted! :)

Here is the equation for the success rate of Steal from the Battle Mechanics FAQ on GameFAQs for anyone who is curious:

Lvl Diff = 40 + Attacker's Level - Target's Level
StealMod = [512 * Lvl Diff / 100]
New Chance = [Item Chance * StealMod / 256]
If Rnd(0..63) <= Chance of Item, then Current Item is stolen!

It can only be improved by leveling up, essentially. That would make Yuffie a good candidate for stealing in a Low Level Game. That's all that really comes to mind. Level up more? Unfortunately, it makes the game even easier, doesn't it?

Roogle, this is why I don't read battle mechanics FAQ, because I can't make head nor tail of it until the "simplified" version. Shame about the drop rate though.

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Originally Posted by Formalhaut

Roogle, this is why I don't read battle mechanics FAQ, because I can't make head nor tail of it until the "simplified" version. Shame about the drop rate though.

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I can just imagine your high school math teacher cackling off in the distance.

I scraped a "C" in maths for my GCSEs. Of course he's cackling in the distance! But come on, it does seem incredibly dense. What is Rnd meant to stand for anyway?

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Originally Posted by Formalhaut

What is Rnd meant to stand for anyway?

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You can't be serious. Even a C student should be able to guess that means "random".

I never claimed to be "decent" at Maths. I'm surprised I even got a C to be honest.

I just did the mass stealing of ethers too. Its pointless to buy all this armour and crap when its so easy to get through Midgar and get better stuff at Kalm. But I just don't feel right if I'm not!

Doesn't luck stat make a difference? I gave Steal to Tifa for her high luck.
(Quite how Cloud doesn't have the highest luck stat after falling from a great height and finding Aeris I don't know)

stealing is for masochists on subsequent playthroughs in every final fantasy game.

Tell you one time it's definitely for masochists...

Stealing the Fairy Flute from Hilgigars in FFIX.
Last time took me a few hours...
I'm not even exaggerating for drama, it literally took hours of trying.

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Originally Posted by Cloudane

Tell you one time it's definitely for masochists...

Stealing the Fairy Flute from Hilgigars in FFIX.
Last time took me a few hours...
I'm not even exaggerating for drama, it literally took hours of trying.

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Your theivery skill probably wasn't high enough. You have to consistently steal from normal enemies throughout the game for Zidane's steal to be any use later.

That doesn't have anything to do with it.

Short story the success rate of steal is based on: Your level, targets level, Zidane's spirit (not speed interestingly enough.) After that the chance of what you get is equal to how rare it is.

So if you are looking for the Fairy Flute it should take you on average like 400 tries.

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[6.0] STEAL
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Steal allows you to steal up to four items from an enemy. There are a total of
3 steps to Steal:

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Step 1
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Steal has to successfully hit the target.

Atk = Rnd MOD (Lvl + Spr)
Def = Rnd MOD (Enemy Lvl)

If Atk is equal or greater than Def, Steal is a success and moves to Step 2.
This step can be ignored if Bandit is equipped: Bandit causes any Steal to
have a 100% success rate.


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Step 2
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Checks to see if you get an item, they're 4 possible slots to choose from.

Rare : 1/256
Semi-Rare: 16/256
Uncommon : 64/256
Common : 256/256

Slots are checked from Rare to Common. If you fail to get the item in the
Rare slot it moves down to Semi-Rare, fail to get the item in the Semi-Rare
slot it moves down to Uncommon, fail to get the item in Uncommon slot and
you'll get what ever item is in the Common slot.

If you get a slot that has no item or you already stole it, Steal will fail.

If you equip Master Thief, the Rare and Semi-Rare slots are changed from 1/256
and 16/256 to 32/256. Steal will also now ignore empty slots.

If you succeed in getting an item, Steal moves to Step 3.


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Step 3
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This Step deals with Mug and Steal Gil.

Mug Damage = Rnd MOD [Zidane's Lvl * Target Lvl / 2]

Stolen Gil = Rnd MOD [Zidane's Lvl * Target Lvl / 4] + 1

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Steal seems to be more convulted in IX than it does in VII!

Actually it is simpler. It's just that the steps involving the rarity of the items and mug/steal gil were omitted from what was posted into the FF7 thread.

I think FFX stealing was far simpler and easier than it is in other FFs.