Final Fantasy Tactics series discussion

Guh, I'm having issues with laws again. "Missing"? Do you know how incredibly frustratingly luck-based this stupid law is? I don't start up a turn and think, "you know what, I'm going to decide to miss this attack".

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

I have found myself more than a few times doing laps around a mission area to refresh the laws. It's annoying as hell. Equally annoying is the insta game over if Marche One-Shots an enemy when it is against the law.

edited 18th Jun '12 10:56:26 PM by stevebat

Apocalypse: Dirge Of Swans.

Well, I've accepted enough guys on accident that the shop upgrade is open, which means i can get tons of katanas, but I changed the assassin into an archer for more abilities, so it doesn't really matter.

Just bear in mind you made an objectively awful decision in going for that class, the Assassin is far more useful than the Archer. Of course, you can enjoy the game any way you like.

My name is Addy. Please call me that instead of my username.

Well, you could always just can the Archer (though her previous class will give her pretty sweet stats) and keep on trying until you get another Assassin and at least have her learn a few skills before requalifying for Assassin so she can have a second skill set and concentrate (aka perfect accuracy mode)

Oh well. I'll just use her as a dispatch person, until she gets assassin again. I just finished negotiation grinding, so now I get to steal tons of abilities. It was so worth it.

Yep, thieves are kind of game breaking in FFTA. In FFTA 2, they're pretty much useless, though.

A2's got a serious problem with overnerfing.

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Even without abilities, Assassins still have amazing speed and decent attack.

OK, more balance suggestions:

Buff:

• Blind (spell): Make it small-area cast instead of single target.
• Steal Loot: Let you actually see what loot you're trying to get, and . Although the whole crafting system needs an overhaul (see below).
• Gladiator's elemental attacks: make them physical instead of magick-based (seriously, who's freaking idea was that?)
• Take Aim: Only reduce damage by 1/2 or maybe even just 1/4

Nerf:

• Stopshot and Charmshot. They're a ridiculous amount better than the other Gunmanship abilities and the other ways to inflict either of those stats (a Time Mage has to spend 12 MP to inflict Stop from half the distance without doing any damage; an Assassin can only do it point-blank). They should make the status-effect Gunmanship abilities cost MP: those two should be about 20, Confusion shot about 15, and the rest about 10.

Also, various gameplay elements from the individual games whose return/removal/modification we may discuss:

• Zodiac signs
• Bravery
• Faith
• Final Death
• Recruiting monsters
• Movement abilities
• Combos
• Capturing monsters
• Judges
• Clan points
• Bazaars/Loot
• Opportunity attacks
• Auctions

I can't seem to remember what opportunity attacks were. What game was that in, and how did it work?

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

FFTA 2 and they let you perform an special action, arguably the most useful being flurry (hit twice), which when combined with dual wield amounted to an instant kill because pretty much nothing can take 4 hits from high power weapons (say, Hyakushiki Masamune and Masamune) and come out alive.

Oh, so that's what they're called. Thanks.

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

• Zodiac is the kind of thing that's just too hard to control/notice. It ends up being about the same level of interactivity as a random damage range. Unless you happen to pick a sign that makes you die faster to Wiegraf in that one fight, or something like that. I don't miss it, although I guess it could be improved.
• Bravery was badly implemented. In the vast majority of cases, you just want more of it, and raising it was kind of a pain so it encouraged Save Scumming to recruit people who started with it. The Advance series seems to be balanced around abilities acting as if you had 100 Bravery, which seems to work out.
• Faith is very interesting, and I'd like to see them do more with it. It's a double-edged sword. You have to be careful not to introduce abilities which undermine it though, because that undermines the entire battle system.
• Final Death is not particularly important to me, but FFTA's way of handling it was incredibly boring. FFT's original "scramble to save the dying companion" thing was kind of fun, but I wouldn't miss it too much if it didn't exist at all.
• Movement abilities... what's the question here? I loved Teleport, if that means anything.
• Combos... no comment.
• Capturing monsters is sort of standard for this kind of game. I mean, why not? If they can exist on the map, they should be able to exist in your party, except for bosses of course.
• Judges create incredible stupidity. I wouldn't mind them in plot battles with pre-determined effects that control the strategy of the battle, but random judges in random battles add annoyance while offering basically nothing. Does anyone like the random penalties?
• Clan points... points are points.
• Bazaars/Loot... frankly I wish the game was less item-dependent overall.
• Opportunity attacks... can't remember what these are.
• Auctions were a bit too complicated of a minigame. I'd rather just conquer territory, possibly by doing quests.

edited 22nd Jun '12 7:04:47 AM by Clarste

Monster recruiting? Screw that noise. They just waste slots in the roster.

I never use them personally, but I don't see why I shouldn't have the option.

Because FFT keeps stuffing my party full of fucking Chocobos.

That's just because they breed asexually and continuously for whatever reason.

Yeah, I'm just gonna kick them all right the fuck out because ONE chocobo is already more than I'll ever use.

It would be nice if they made monsters more viable like the Disgaea games did, but I'm not sure how they'd handle it in FFT's system.

You know, I can see the appeal of putting random modifiers on fights, but as Clarste said, it's usually just annoying. If the game were to retain the judge system, I think I'd push for it to designate a particular region or type of map that the judges control, and let us wander everywhere else without worrying about them. Alternatively, there could be optional arena matches or something, so you're only subject to their judgment when you step into a controlled environment.

I agree that it'd be nice if the games relied less on items.

• Bravery: I agree with Clarste, it just ends up being pointless.
• Faith: I have mixed feelings on this. Using a percentage modifier instead of a Resistance stat is an interesting way to make magic and physical attacks more distinct. On the other hand I hate the idea of any unit being immune to magic, character settings I have to go into battle just to adjust (why do I have to be in battle to do these things?), and max faith making you lose a unit just seems annoying (especially when 0 Faith ).
• Final Death: It just seems kind of pointless, since everyone is going to just save scum if it ever happens, meaning you're unlikely to ever have many really close matches.
• Judges: I could take or leave them. I'd be fine if whatever the next game came up with something entirely different.
• Clan points: What I meant was there's so little to use them with, I question keeping them at all. What else could we use them for?
• Bazaars/Loot: I say keep it, but make it so it's not an embodiment of Guide Dang It!: let us actually see the items we might craft and tell us where to get them. Also, make loot drops/thefts less random so we can reliably get them that way instead of depending entirely on missions.
• Opportunity attacks: Always seemed kind of gimmicky and pointless.
• Auctions: Gaining territory is an interesting concept, but it has almost no actual affect on anything related to the actual land. They pretty quickly got tedious, especially when you gained the ability to buy tokens.

edited 22nd Jun '12 2:43:34 PM by thatother1dude

If they brought back Judge Points, but they made it so they have more effects than just combo and Totema (for example, let's say 1 JP lets you cast a spell at half cost and 5 JP for free), I could see it work out.

As for balancing... tone down the Parivir's Blade to maybe 1.5x, increase Jump's accuracy (to 75%?) and increase its damage (to 150%?), de-nerf Concentrate to have maybe a 20% boost instead of freaking 5%, make it so that Blood Price rules out healing spells, and my aforementioned suggestion for MP regen based on total.

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I never got the opportunity*

for it, but what is the Opportunity Attack for when the enemies completely surround you?

It hits all adjacent enemies.

There are also opportunity commands that things like haste all adjacent allies.

All the allies ones do different things, so I was hoping the one enemies one I hadn't tried would be somehow special like Pummel was.