- had never played it before in my life - have played through most of Fire Emblem 7 and all of both Shining Force and Advance Wars Dual Strike..... and a little Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 if that counts (this is the limit of my experience with any remotely similar games; but I really enjoyed all of the above) - started playing FFT yesterday, finished the intro battle and the first battle afterwards - didn't really know what I was doing; kept getting screwed because i would move, find out i wasn't in range to do anything useful, and not be able to take back my move; didn't know what any of my abilities did and used "Wish" on an enemy; let one of my teammates die; criminally underused the main character in both battles - heard that you kind of need to read the tutorial to get started - thinking of reading the tutorial and restarting - but it's so long - is this a normal experience, and will I probably enjoy it once I actually learn how to play?
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
From: Blairville | #009 You can press Select to see what a move does.
This.
There's also a preview of what a skill will do when you use it. Read the bottom of the screen. For example, Wish will say something like +XX HP so you know you want to use it on a friend.
Also this post (compiled by a few people at FFT General) is a nice one:
Generic "So You're New..." rundown:
-Item is a God-send. Really. If winning a battle requires you to equip Item as a Secondary or Primary skillset on EVERY character you have, then so be it. It is a great crutch to use until you figure out how things actually work in the game - just make sure to buy the Potion and Phoenix Down abilities.
-Black Magic is great offensive power early game. Level 1 Spells are ridiculously cheap, and level 2 spells lend themselves to killing stuff fast. Boost your magic damage with elemental rods [cast Ice with an Ice Rod equipped, for example], high Faith, and the Wizard Support ability Magic Attack UP
-Males have greater PA and HP, Females have better MA and MP. Thus, Males -> Fighters, Females -> Mages.
-The learning curve of this game is steep. Chances are, the 3rd or so plot battle is going to kick your butt all over the place. Be patient. The Tutorial, though sinfully boring, can actually be helpful - don't be afraid to use it in a bind. Once you get the basics down, however, the game gets much easier.
-Abilities > Levels. This game has been beaten at level 1 [using a GS to prevent EXP gain]. Leveling up will, on average, just grant you a few measly points of HP and MP - only every so often do you end up with a stat point. Your abilities are much more important.
-Don't trust the "Best Fit" option in stores. It simply equips the highest HP boosting armors and highest WP weapons. Some pieces of hats/clothing grant stat boosts, which are usually MORE than worth a few additional points of HP. Same goes for Robes and MP. Axes/Flails/Bags have huge WP, but deal random damage, and should be avoided. Just manually equip your characters, paying attention to stat boosts and such.
-Useful FAQs to help you along the way: [if you want, not at all necessary] 1) The Battle Mechanics Guide, by Aerostar. Everything from damage formulas to statuses and how they effect you. Pretty much everything is in here. 2) Brave/Faith FAQ, by Astrologist Olan 19. Brave and Faith can be VERY important in this game, and I highly recommend reading this [Read the INTRO AS WELL] to get the hang of it - it can make your life much easier 3) Zodiac Compatability Guide, by ARobinson. Zodiac is less important for victory in this game, but it can make your life much easier if you plan things properly. 4) For a walkthrough, BoardFourSixNineFour's is probably the best.
Final note: If the game ever prompts you to save [A message will pop up saying "Do you want to save?"], save in a DIFFERENT SLOT. Make a back-up save. The reasoning is the game, on a few occasions, prompts you to save in the middle of a battle series, and the next battle is extremely hard for the unprepared. Hard to the point where several people have had to restart their ENTIRE game, because they could not beat the battle, and could not go back to the world map to level up, get abilities, equipment, etc. Just make a backup world map save, and you won't get stuck for good.
Feel free to ask more specific questions. I love FFT, and would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.
--
No amount of planning will ever replace dumb luck.
Wow, thanks Ness. (Thanks to everyone who posted in the topic, really, but that particular post was really helpful and encouraging.)
Also Blairville, thanks for the Select tip. I knew there HAD to be something like that, but for some reason I didn't think of hitting Select. >_<
I'll probably get back on board with this game tonight or tomorrow. Somehow, knowing that there's a really tough battle coming up soon that will probably destroy me, is really invigorating and makes me want to rise to the challenge.
No further tips necessary, guys, thanks for the help, maybe I'll even do a playthrough topic. :-D
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
Do it! It gets said a lot but FFT really is the best FF game. Challenging but never impossible, and there are so many ways to play the game it's mind-boggling. I hope you like it!
-- chumbucketeer fills cups like double-Ds. http://img.imgcake.com/chumpngej.png - Art by BIGPUN9999
The tutorial is boring, yes, but the game knows it and even makes fun of it. There's a skill called Mimic Daravon (or whatever his name was... the tutorial teacher) that puts enemies to sleep.
I also want to stress again what that big post said about saving to another slot when the game prompts you to. I was a victim of only keeping one save file and I was f***ed during a certain infamous sequence of battles. I had to restart the entire game after that.
--
Account created-9/10/04. Just a normal GameFAQs user/leprechaun Ramza: rofl. Rofel: You say my name? -Eise
I'm here! Yesterday night I totally zoned out. Tonight I have D&D. I might try to sneak at least the first few battles in tonight though, maybe get up to that tough one that's supposed to kill me and post my thoughts before giving it another go sometime this weekend.
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
Work is sucking the energy right out of me... I didn't have the focus to multitask last night. Tonight I will just be relaxing - I'll be tired, but since people are now waiting on me to stop shirking my duties, I now officially promise to play tonight. :-D
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
-Males have greater PA and HP, Females have better MA and MP. Thus, Males -> Fighters, Females -> Mages.
This is why my new game hated me. My female starters had Brave in the 70s and Faith in the 40s, my Male characters had Brave in the low 50s and Faith in the high 60s.
-- (Maniac64 at work) [Browncoat] ~Board 570901~ All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.
All right! Here we go! I'm a little tired; this was a manic week at work. But I've just finished dinner, gotten some relaxation time in and poured myself a glass of soda, so I'm as ready as I can be. Tonight's challenge - beat that "tough battle" on my first try. I don't know how tough it's supposed to be exactly; all I know is somebody in this topic talked it up as a newbie-killer. Well I'll give it my all!
Tutorial
Okay, I don't know why I bothered writing my playthrough intro text and waiting until after completing the tutorial to post it. But that's exactly what I did. This post has been sitting here half-written now for 2 and a half hours (I estimate one hour of that was spent on mental breaks, and 1:30 on the tutorial itself). This is a pretty in-depth game! I really love some aspects of it and haven't really seen anything like it before. I like the Jump stat for movement. Job system looks interesting; I feel like it's going to be tough deciding whether to skip certain Abilities in order to save up for better ones once the old go obsolete. I like that you pick a "category" of abilities to set your character up with, but if you only get one Reaction ability for example, I can't see being thrilled about spending JP on more than one. Anyway, MUCH much better understanding of the mechanics now. Also, the description of the Calculator class was VERY intriguing. That is cool stuff. I've obviously seen spells of this sort in other games, but I love that you can customize it and have it work with a huge set of them. I also like the system by which you need to charge spells and how it relates to the normal AT system. I'm gonna have to see how this all works in practice, though. I have no way right now of fully grokking the strategy. Time to jump in!
Intro Mission
I'm usually all about default names in the games I play, but I understand you get to pick the main character's birthday as well. I'm sure I could go look up Ramza's "canonical birthdate" if there is one, but I feel more encouraged than usual to customize this guy. I named him "Jacob" after myself, and I gave him my own birthday, December 6th. Sagittarius, baby - let's see how useful that is. (I'll be considerate and refer to him as Ramza in this playthrough, though.)
Watching this scene more closely than the last time, I rather like Ovelia. I notice the little changes in peoples' postures too, which is pretty cool - Gafgarion looks really indignant when he's getting smack talked.
Looks like I've got Brave 58 / Faith 60, and my Squire abilities are Accumulate, Dash and Wish. I guess these are generated randomly, because I'm pretty sure I had Throw Stone on a previous go. I'm sure I won't miss it too much, though a ranged attack would be nice.
Anyway, I know the intro mission is designed to be unloseable (I once saw a YouTube video showing that it IS possible to lose, but you have to very strategically sabotage yourself every turn, and it takes forever), but I did feel a lot more prepared than last time. I gained job points every turn, at least, and I felt like my moves were more competently chosen. Anyway, we get to the famous "Blame yourself or God" line and move on to the next scene.
By the way, I took a short break after the intro mission because I just could not stop watching this:
Seriously. What the hell.
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
So just how does one pronounce Delita? "Delight-a" or "Delete-a"? Regardless, my Brave and Faith both seem to be 70 now. Eh, I'm just gonna go with it - it's probably due to the flashback.
Picking my party was interesting. Bearing in mind the whole "males -> fighters; females -> mages" advice, at first I tried to take the males with the most Brave and the females with the most Faith, but I more or less just ended up going with the people who had better stats regardless of sex. I took Tymothi, Hannibal, Stella and Rachel. Not that I even know if these characters are going to show up again or not.
Now I definitely see evidence of the Tutorial showing me how to play. Not one of my party members went down. That was fun! My first go at this mission was a cluster****; I can definitely feel some core competencies emerging here. Planning around turn order and such. An enemy dropped a treasure chest near the end of the battle, but I couldn't get to it in time, so I left it there. Hopefully good strategy doesn't involve milking these drops for everything I can get out of them.
Aaaaand unfortunately, it's way past my bedtime. I may get to that fabled "tough mission" sometime tomorrow. I plan on sleeping in, possibly watching some college football, and eventually hanging out with some friends (but probably not 'til evening, when Doctor Who comes on).
That's all for tonight; starting off slow, but I'm looking forward to some tougher missions and a better grasp of how stats work.
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
I say it "Delete-uh" but other people may pronounce it differently. Getting chests from enemies is just a nice bonus for the most part, but not something yo need to focus on.
As for reaction abilities, you will probably end up getting more than a few of those on each character, as there will be certain battles where some reaction ability is far more useful than others.
--
My Japanese alter-ego. Hey all this is Bartz btw.
Wow, LOTS of customization available right away with Abilities, etc. I thought that last battle was a one-off flashback scene and we'd go back to after the fight at the Church. I spent a lot of time messing around with the party. I'm already wanting to mess with everyone's classes. I tried making Ramza a Knight, but that would have involved taking an HP cut from 51 to 36 - as I later found out, this is mostly because most of my starting equipment is exclusive to the Squire and Chemist classes. Unfortunately, I also don't have any bows, so I can't have any Archers either.
I strongly considered making a Knight or two anyway, just to get a head start in that progression, since it sounds like a class I'm going to want to pursue later on, but since I don't really know what I'm up against, I figure HP is more important.
My three highest HP units are Delita, Ramza and Tymothi, so they get to be Squires. Rachel managed to become a level 2 Chemist last battle, and she has just enough JP for Fire+Bolt+Ice, so she's my Wizard. But interestingly enough, she's got Brave 72 / Faith 64, the highest Brave of my party. >_> Stella is an interesting one. Female, Brave 54, Faith 71 (highest Faith I have), but she started out a Squire and made it to Level 2. Switching her to a Chemist.
Funnily enough, in the end, all my males are now Squires, and all my females are either Chemists or a Wizard.
So yeah, I'm already hooked; this level of party customization is absolutely my kind of thing. And I only effectively have two classes available right now for most people, so I'm sure it only gets better.
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
I dunno how much of your comments are rhetorical or not. I'll keep quiet unless you specifically ask a question.
Thanks Ness; yeah, I'm not specifically asking for advice at this point, since I'm not stuck anywhere. I'll let you guys know if something's really confusing me.
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
Brave is important for wizard classes as well, just not quite as much as warrior classes. For most reaction abilities, your brave level will = the % that the action is performed.
In other words, it's great that your wizard has high brave.
--
My Japanese alter-ego. Hey all this is Bartz btw.
One other thing that you will want to keep in mind, is that you shouldn't feel like you have to level your characters in a particular class. Most of the character's stats will be determined by their current job, not by what they level as in the past.
--
My Japanese alter-ego. Hey all this is Bartz btw.
From: KingButz | #037 One other thing that you will want to keep in mind, is that you shouldn't feel like you have to level your characters in a particular class. Most of the character's stats will be determined by their current job, not by what they level as in the past.
Yeah, stat growth means almost nothing. The only way to make it mean something is to spend hours abusing a little trick. So feel free to play around with whatever you want.
--
No amount of planning will ever replace dumb luck.
Hmmm... The tutorial said shops are at the feet of castles. I wonder if I go there I'll be able to get stuff for Knights/Archers... Checking out Igros Castle first instead of the Mandalia Plains. Aaaaand no battle, no shop, no warrior enlistments, just a touching cutscene. (I forgot to mention, I kinda dig the music of this game.)
Well, Igros Castle is still apparently an option, so let's try it again. Except this time I'm waylaid halfway there, right around the marker called Mandalia Plains.... Not much of a choice where to go at all, is there? :-P Taking Ramza, Stella, Rachel and Tymothi with me.
What to do? Destroy the Death Corps or save a life? The first option sounds like we'd gain more experience, but I always play a goody two-shoes in these games, and I'm all for an extra party member, so I pick Option 2, save his life. (Okay, looks like I would have gotten to do both anyway, but I still feel good about the decision; Ramza starts talking like a Paladin, which makes me happy.)
Things seem to be going well; I use my first magic spell and kill a guy with fire. I put my Chemist into harm's way to save the NPC, though, and she goes down after throwing a potion. I have a few rounds to save her (equipping some guys with Item was a great call), but I soon realize I can take out her two attackers by casting Fire right in the downed Chemist's square. The tutorial didn't say anything about the effects of burning corpses... time to take another calculated risk..... and it pays off! Nothing bad seemed to happen. I did end the battle with the Chemist still dead, though; I killed the bad guys too quickly to get up and dose her with Phoenix Down. I hope I didn't miss my chance.
Algus gets starstruck and asks us to help him save the Marquis. Delita recommends we report to Igris Castle first.... Gee, wish I'd thought of that! lol
Taking a break; found the football game. Back to the next mission in about 1.5-2 hours.
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
Algus makes a good addition; he has lots of Brave. Rachel's a Level 2 Wizard now, giving her access to Time Mage. A very tempting offer, but I'm not pursuing it right now. I keep wanting her backup abilities to be from another spellcasting class, but MP is limited right now. Anyway, on to Igros!
You know, too often I get the impression in video games that no one thinks twice about wars or the fate of the world being decided by a small group of 10 or so soldiers. I love that Algus is asking for 100. So the Beoulves are starting to question the M.O. of this Death Corps - kidnapping high profile noblemen for money is starting to look like a political statement.
Hey, I discovered the shop! And they have stuff for Knights and Archers! Looks like Knight equipment gives ridiculous HP, and the only bow available is a little on the cheap side and not very powerful. Also, all of the Archer abilities just seem to be, "wait X turns to do more damage." I was pretty excited about turning some guys into Archers, but right now I'm more impressed with Wizards for the purposes of ranged damage.
It looks like the best possible thing I can do for most any given unit is turn them into a fully equipped Knight. I don't want to waste all my funds, though. And the tutorial seemed to be stressing that I shouldn't use the same people every battle.
Upgrades: I turn Ramza into a Knight; I know I'm going to be using him the whole game. I turn Delita into an Archer; this was sort of on a whim. I want to try out the Archer class, it'll provide some versatility, and it didn't waste much money. I turn Tymothi into a Knight. I wasn't going to, but I have the money, and I'm starting to get nervous about the upcoming "tough battle" - whether it's the next one or the one after that.
I don't have too much gold left over, so I grab a few potions and call it a day. Only then do I check out the Soldier office and see I can't afford anybody. Ah well; I make a mental note to go there next time. And THEN I decide to check out the shop at the Magic City. I pick up a weapon for my Wizard but otherwise resist the temptation to empty my entire bank account.
I feel certain I'd be doing things differently if I knew ahead of time what to expect, but I'm making this a blind playthrough (I didn't even go to the links Ness posted), so I'm just trying to be prepared for anything.
I move onward to the battle at Sweegy Woods...
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
From: Bokonon_Lives | #041 I feel certain I'd be doing things differently if I knew ahead of time what to expect, but I'm making this a blind playthrough (I didn't even go to the links Ness posted), so I'm just trying to be prepared for anything.
Yeah, this is probably better. They're just part of that generic opening post -- I think it's good you didn't read them, actually.
--
No amount of planning will ever replace dumb luck.
Once again, I only get to pick 4 characters, and 1 of them is Ramza. I'll probably have Delita and Algus as Guests, but my options are still limited. There's a fine line between picking my best characters and letting my newbies level up. I make probably a too-gutsy call and take Ramza (Knight), Stella (Chemist), Marlow (Squire) and Hannibal (Squire). Preparing to get utterly destroyed.....
Oh god damnit. Fire monsters. Could have really used Ice magic here. But I'll give it my all.
Turn 1, I move up a few squares with a few characters and use the Wait command to shorten the time before my next turn; a few characters I neither Act nor Move. I keep everyone out of range of enemy attacks. The enemy creeps up into range.
Turn 2, I get a hit off on a panther and kill a Bomb. Algus gets gangbanged but seems fine, and Marlow is near death. Stella helps out Marlow, who kills a panther.
After that, I just start destroying bad guys, and it's one-sided from then on. That was clearly not the newbie-killing battle. Phew!
Now, Ramza is a level 2 Knight, opening the door for Monk; Algus and Hannibal reach level 2 in Squire; and curiously, not Delita but Stella is now a level 2 Archer, opening the door for Thief.
Upgrades: Stella -> Thief. This class just looks awesome. Ramza -> Monk. I don't really want to do this, but it looks like there are a few good abilities to learn, and I'm gonna give his Knight equipment away for now. Hannibal -> Knight. He gets the nod over Algus. I get the feeling Algus might become a main party member, but for now he's a Guest. So is Delita, and I definitely don't think Delita is staying around, so I'm playing it safe around all Guests.
I considered trekking back to a shop to resupply, but the game keeps track of time, so I figured I'd better just get a move on. I don't know if time progressing actually does anything (besides something to do with Zodiac signs), but yeah, just doesn't seem right to let too much time pass on my way to a mission.
I move on to Dorter Trade City...
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
Again I pick 4. Ramza (Monk), Marlow (Squire), Paula (Chemist) and Rachel (Wizard).
Marlow and Paula are my last two characters who can't get into a "prestige" class yet. Could probably have used a Knight to tank, but I'm feeling the Wizard today.
Hmmm. This scene is ominous. Not entirely sure what's going on here. Delita says he recognizes the leader of the Death Corps; was he talking about that Knight who was looking for the Marquis? Does that mean the Marquis has been rescued or re-kidnapped? Also, who even are these people we're fighting to this decidedly high-intensity battle music? In any case, I spot an enemy Wizard, which tells me I should spread out immediately.
Oh dear lord; make that two enemy Wizards. And Archers on rooftops. I'm going to die.
Rachel my Wizard takes a hit before my first turn. Looks like Delita and Algus are going up after the Archer who shot her.
Stella heals Rachel. I move Marlow up. He gets swiped at, and looks like a Wizard is targeting him. I run him up next to the Wizard and slash him. The plan worked; the Wizard got caught in the blast. Both Marlow and the Wizard go down with that casting of Bolt. At the same time, Rachel targets a tile next to McCloud, a Knight, and catches him on Fire.
Delita and Algus continue making their way up towards that high-up Archer, who nails Rachel again with an arrow. Ramza punches McCloud, who's reduced to 2 HP. Stella's on heal duty again for Rachel. On the second rooftop, a Wizard and an Archer start charging attacks directed at Ramza; a second Archer on the ground aims for Ramza too. Uh oh. I bring up Rachel to try and catch McCloud and the grounded Archer in a Fire attack, but McCloud moves out of the way.
Oh no! I just realized Stella can't use a Phoenix Down! Maaaaarlooooow! I run through my unit list. The only people in my party who could use a Phoenix Down are Algus...... and Marlow. I better kill the rest of these guys quickly, but I fear I may have lost this unit. Such a badass death though.
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
Since Stella can't save Marlow, the best she can do is try to take down the ground Archer aiming at Ramza. Rachel's Fire is set to go off before that Archer's Charge 2... but the only place Stella can get to to hit him is inside that very Fire blast. I decide it's worth it, and I send her in to attack.
P.S. Crap I was wrong. I thought the order was Rooftop Archer -> Enemy Wizard -> Rachel -> Ground Archer. I was close; but switch the two Archers. -_-
A cluster**** ensues. Ramza is down, Stella is barely standing, but at least the ground Archer bit it. Delita takes a potshot at the guy he's been chasing all battle. Algus, despite being the only guy with the Phoenix Down ability, pursues that guy too instead of acting as a battlefield medic. Unfortunately, he misses the guy with his sword. And oh that son of a *****; from that high up, he shot down Stella.
McCloud's still alive, but he merely retreats. He's effectively out of the battle. The Wizard and the Archer on the shorter rooftop come down a little, but they're on uneven levels, so Rachel can't target them both. I choose to target the Wizard with Fire. Delita and Algus FINALLY kill that jerk at the very peak of the high rooftop.
At this point, Rachel eats an arrow, and the enemy Wizard is targeting her with Fire. I figure there's no need for a Marlow-esque suicide run; thanks to her weapon, she can just kill the Wizard. But I'm short by exactly 1 HP. Rachel and the enemy Wizard die.
Delita and Algus look too far away to do anything, and they have to kill a full-health Archer AND finish off McCloud, who's retreated to the far corner of the map. Marlow's body turns into a crystal, and the Wizard he screwed over drops a treasure box.
One turn later, nobody's even touched the remaining baddies, and Ramza turns into treasure.
Sad music - game over.
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
So the question on my mind is, do I send my elite squad, or do I merely try to use better strategy? Thinking I'll just send the elite squad. I should totally be able to handle this. It's challenging but not unfair.
Looks like I might have plans soon tonight though, so this might have to wait 'til later this weekend.
-- bokonon get your sense-making the **** out of this topic now - Cat1001 Brawl FC: 1461-9803-2942 /// X-Box Live Gamertag: AGGGH
You should probably send your best squad. In case you didn't realize it, that is the "tough battle" near the beginning.
You probably will end up using just 4 or 5 of your non-Ramza units in the long run unless you want to grind, so keep that in mind. Your team can become pretty versatile even with just 5 different players.
--
My Japanese alter-ego. Hey all this is Bartz btw.