FFTA2 First Impressions?

[Roto13]

(SPOILER)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]

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

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

Link

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

[Zeromus_X]

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]

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 and Nono, so that's two. There's also Hurdy. Hurdy was one of the Moogling operators in XII, along with two more of the Montblanc siblings, Horne and Sorbet. Hurdy also has a twin sister named 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]

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, !!!

[ljkkjlcm9]

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]

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]

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

[Skyblade]

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]

This is pretty great, !!!

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? ?!

[Skyblade]

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.

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

[Roto13]

That character has a wallpaper 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]

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...

(SPOILER)
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? ?!

[Roto13]

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]

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

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

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