Final Fantasy Tactics | 10 Tips To Get Started

[@ResonantArc]

A couple of corrections: 1. Monk is unlocked through the Knight job, not Thief. I get mixed up because I go back and forth with a bunch of jobs grabbing abilities and leveling them up, etc. Thief is a path toward Lancer/Dragoon and Ninja, which are also really good. 2. There is a boss later in the game that is considered the highest difficulty spike in the game. If you use the Capricorn zodiac sign for Ramza it will increase the difficulty of that fight, so it might be better to go with Pisces/Cancer/Scorpio rather than Capricorn/Taurus/Virgo. If you choose Pisces that particular battle will be made easier.

[@Thetreetroll]

Thank you.

[@sirsquiggles1584]

Which fight is that? You probably mean the first Zodiac fight, but Dorter has a pretty high spike even if you're like three levels above everyone lmao

[@Klelslol]

@@sirsquiggles1584 he's referring to the 2nd fight with Weigraf. The one where you have to fight him solo with Ramza before his transformation into a Lucavi.

[@sirsquiggles1584]

@@Klelslol oh God you're right, I hate that fight 😭

[@Klelslol]

@@sirsquiggles1584 Truth be told, you can cheese that battle pretty damn easily if you know what you're doing. Simply use Monk class with Squire abilities and wear equipment to increase your movement as much as possible. Increase your speed and run away. Heal with Chakra if needed. Continue until you have like 4-5 turns to his one. Then increase your attack several times. Eventually you'll one shot him with ease.

[@reenchanted]

Great tips! A few more I’ve learned from experience: 1. Every action you take will provide a probability of success at the bottom of the screen before you confirm the action. That will give you advanced notice if there is an obstruction in the way or exceptionally low chance of success *before* you take the action and potentially waste your turn. You might also find that due to positioning, height, zodiac comparability, each unit might have better or worse success attacking/stealing/etc. against some enemies than against others, and this will hint to that. It’s super-useful. 2. Since you gain JP from every action you take (that does damage/healing/changes status successfully), it can be extremely helpful to bring lots of Potions (because early-on, everyone has Item as a secondary Job, right?). This is a great way to keep your team alive and get lots of extra JP early when no other actions/enemies are in range. Also, if all else fails, no enemies are in range, and it won’t affect the outcome of your battle, it’s ok to backstab your allies now and then for free JP. They won’t hold it against you, and this is a game about backstabbing all around. :-) 3. You can learn one or more abilities from enemy crystals dropped by human units after they are KOed for 3 turns. It can help to save a little bit of that precious JP early on. 4. If any of your units die and can’t be revived within 3 turns, just restart the battle. It’s not worth losing the investment. 5. Don’t be stupid like me and start the first battle without dispatching your entire party. It took me a few tries back in ‘97 to realize that I had a whole party to use and wasn’t expected to win the first fight with just Ramza and Delita. 😂 I almost quit what would become one of my all-time favorite games just because I couldn’t figure out that little but all-important UI detail.

[@leviboom0932]

There's a bug on the crystals dropped by enemies, when you choose the very first option to learn you instead learn all the skills the enemy had instead of just learning what you can pick at the bottom choices. I don't know if this was patched on the WOTL or the Mods

[@dycedarg19]

I remember when I first played, that 2nd battle along with Delita was a little difficult. He was always guarding, throwing stones, or dying. I guess that’s where Donald got his fighting style in KH!

[@nimazsheik5152]

Just finished this game 2 weeks back. The story is phenomenal, Yasumi Matsuno's writing is unmatched in video games even today. A large factor is that he used to work as an economic reporter and studied foreign policy, this makes all his games more grounded and focus on real issues.

[@rossrobertson674]

What version did u play? And did u go through Deep Dungeon and find all the best weapons and armor in the game? I did it back when this game first came out so there was no internet to cheat, I literally walked over every tile with move find item, took forever

[@doctordungus7774]

I miss him, man.

[@TybudX]

This game, Vagrant Story, and Tactics Ogre are three of my favourite games.

[@CharleyTurner]

@@rossrobertson674 There was a Strategy Guide that came out for the game around the same time. It was a god send for if you didn’t have internet back in the day lol

[@rossrobertson674]

@@CharleyTurner oh ya the strategy guide would've been nice, it's probably a collectors item now, also in my comment I said there was no internet which isn't true, it's just that no one really had it, my friends older brother had internet and we eventually figured out that u need low brave to successfully move find item and if u pick up Phoenix down u miss it

[@DSzaks]

Tips I would Add. -L and R buttons are used to cycle through party members on the setup phase before each battle. This may seem obvious to some but The game never explicitly tells you this beyond some easily overlookable button icons. Nor does the game tell you about your other party members for the first battle. So if your less than observant like me and overlooked these things for the first fight, it can be extremely tough trying to solo it. -When selecting any spell or ability, pressing the -> direction on the D-pad will instantly pull up the turn order and show you where the ability will land within it. -Having and entire party w/ zodiac compatibility will make them work well together but also means they will all be extremely susceptible to the same things. This means compatible enemies w/ wide "Area of Effect" abilities can decimate your whole party at once if your not careful. Just something to be aware of if you use the strat Mike Suggests. - High Brave/Faith may not be desirable on all characters. A low Faith character can be almost immune to magic. Making them good for tracking down and killing mage enemies and They can still be healed and revived with Items w/o issue. Also Low Brave is used to determine the chance of finding rare items with the Move-Find Item(Treasure Hunter) ability. Not required but you may want to keep a character w/ Low Brave if you want to go searching for rare/unique items on maps. -Any ability that raises/lower brave and faith will permanently alter it's Base value after battle by a lesser amount. So it is possible to customize character brave/faith values to your liking regardless of where they start if you are willing to put in some effort. Also Extremely Low Base Brave or Extremely High Base Faith will cause party member to have a crises of conscience and permanently leave the party. So be careful if you experiment w/ this. As a side note causing a character's Brave to fall below 10 in battle will physically transform them into a chicken. -Dead characters (excluding story required characters) will have a timer on them when they fall. If this counter reaches zero before they are revived or the battle ends they will be permanently killed. However they will also turn into a chest or crystal on the battlefield when this occurs. Picking up chest will give you a item (according to the enemy type). More importantly though human enemies that turn into yellow crystals can also impart one of their abilities if they are picked-up. This is essentially bonus JP, and as Mike noted getting as much JP as you can is very important.

[@ResonantArc]

I'm sure other people in the comments will have some great tips I didn't bring up in the video. If you need some help getting better at the game, check out the comments section! First episode of the podcast is coming on Wednesday!

[@DarkSol13]

If you are playing the psp War of the Lions version you also shouldn't let go of Alicia and Lavian, the two generic characters that come with Agrias, as they are tied to her quest all the way in chapter 4 which nets a very good accessory for Agrias. Otherwise you'll miss the quest entirely.

[@dudemcguy1227]

Wow, never knew this. That's a good tip!

[@Viktir123]

That is a very important tip. I just got it recently in FFT WOTL for PSP and I never had that item back in the days of the playstation 1 and it's a very strong item.

[@scottwagner2317]

Shit

[@scrappydaclown797]

Lavian died

[@dudemcguy1227]

IF I could add a tip #11 and #12 really quick: #11: I highly recommend teaching your chemist characters the "Throw stone" ability from the Squire class (90 JP). This will give them the ability to do some minor damage from a safer distance behind your melee fighters. Remember that you need to take an action with a character each round in order to gain JP/EXP. Throw stone is very good for chemists to help them do this without putting them too close to enemies. You can also use this ability to throw stones at each other near the end of a battle to help these characters farm some easy JP/EXP. #12: Before changing you Chemists into Mages, stay in that class a little longer and learn the "Auto-potion" reaction ability. This gives your characters a chance to automatically use a potion on themselves when the take damage (% change based on Brave Stat. Meaning 60 Brave = 60% chance to activate). This is SUPER useful in the early game when your mage characters don't have access to very good reaction abilities. A potion heals for 30HP which early on is more than half your total HP. Enemy Archers and melee units will go after your weaker mage characters, so them have access to heal themselves can help A LOT with their survivability. Potions are also relatively cheap. They cost 50 gil each and a story mission typically awards you around 3,000 to 4,000 gil early on. Teaching your Melee characters auto-potion is useful as well for their survivability. Combine #11 and #12 to throw a stone at your allies (3-8 damage) and have them counter with auto-potion (30 HP). Using your throw stone as a slightly less reliable potion toss when you no longer use Chemists.

[@LightsongLackless]

I have a question. I have seen people talk about tossing stones at each other for years and it never made sense to me. Is there a reason that's a better alternative to accumulate? Accumulate has a 100% success rate, you can do it anywhere, you're not hurting yourself, only helping. And it's sitting right there next to throw stone. Sure, it only works until you get 99 strength, but if you get to 99 strength, it's time to end the battle, my dude. I'm sure you're not the one who came up with the throw stone idea, but I have wondered why people do this for years and since you're recommending it, I figured you could give me some insight.

[@dudemcguy1227]

@@LightsongLackless Accumulate works well too. But it costs more JP than throw stone. (90JP vs 250 JP if I remember right) Accumulate is definitely worth getting for melee class characters though for sure. The strength buff is very helpful. But for mage characters I prefer to just get throw stone and move +1 from the squire class and then switch to chemist until I get them auto potion. Which is really good, but costs 400 JP. So I usually skip accumulate since those characters won't need to boost strength. I'd rather get to auto potion faster. But those who get frustrated when throw stone misses might prefer to grind the extra 250 JP so that they don't have to worry about missing. That's a good point.

[@Elohist2009]

Accumulate has been my grind of choice since the old days. I just spend hundreds of turns buffing atk, then one shot whatever is left alive on the field when I’m done. For exp grind I prefer dash/rush, but stone is fine for that too; using those on stronger party/enemies will help lower units catch up fast.

[@jaredpearce4244]

Been a while since I played...but doesn't Auto-Potion use the same slot as Gained JP Up? So you have the healing, but leveling takes much longer. You would have to de-equip JP Up for all members at that point.

[@dudemcguy1227]

@@jaredpearce4244 Not quite. Auto-potion is a reaction skill. It occupies the slot for skills like "counter" attack or "parry". JP UP is on your passive slot, for skills like "Equip Heavy Armor" or "Equip Swords". So you can have both JP UP and Auto-potion skills set on a character at the same time.

[@stuartcaffrey2949]

You really put a lot of effort into these podcasts, going so far as to make a beginners guide for an upcoming game to help people playing along. The passion you have for this stuff really shines through in the podcasts, it's great to watch. Keep up the great work!

[@MrVariant]

Half the tips are generally useless anyway. Even halfway through just unlock ninja/dragoon (whose jump should be exploited on CT under 50 enemies with vertical 3 horizontal 8) or black mage with elemental rod. I had a dragoon (Ramza tailwind has him easy to get JP let alone spillover for anyone with the same job to get like 20% for an easier dark knight ordeal) overkill Argath kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHTHkn57gJ6XhbM Doesn't even prioritize chemist's auto potion. Regular potion sucks and is power crept compared to Phoenix down. 9:57 mentions time mage and Oracle before but no manafont/Mana shield invincibility combo to recover mp you lose when hit. 10:33 speedy archer for minimalist 35 damage. I assume he had ignore elevation which my dragoon strategy would've killed in 2 shots with black mage or their own friendly fire doing the rest. 12:20 chapter one armor. Later stuff boosts speed, and everyone knows the chameleon robe holy calculator trick, or just using vs wiegraf to be hit by a weaker aura blast instead of lightning stab. 14:22 you can change abilities and jobs even when save trapped, and the backup is just when the game prompts you. The end does Not even explain properly despite the always loop let alone say to use the tutorial which doesn't teach the best reaction and support abilities to make the game child's play. I feel my auto battle vid was far more helpful.

[@lividlife213]

@@MrVariant the video isn't meant to make the game child's play though, it's mean to show some basic things to keep in mind if you're new to the game and don't really know what to do.

[@MrVariant]

@@lividlife213 if you know what you are doing, it's child's play. Otherwise elmdor and wiegraf will own you and you're stuck forever. Even Argath will give you a hard time. You're acting like it's a bad idea to tell people to learn holy, fira, and quick ASAP through what one joked as Friendly Fire Tactics (doing common sense is suicidal like ff2) over those useless knight break skills (except break speed) or chemist (which auto potion and Phoenix down are nice for beginners).

[@cedericdrachenreign7637]

I can't wait. This is my favorite FF by narrative. When I first watched GoT I couldn't help but notice parallels to FFT's themes of betrayal, religious persecution, socio-economic perceptions and obviously the setting itself. Given that FFs usually try to hide intentions for a big twist or even keep things vague all the way to the end, I think FFT possibly has the most flushed out, thorough story of any and I'm excited to hear what you guys think! Not to mention it's my favorite tactics combat system of all time!

[@mkooij]

I agree with everything you said. The comparison with Game of Thrones is very logical though since both stories are based on the War of the Roses in the late middle ages in the real world Very interesting piece of history (though it can get a bit confusing at first)

[@neil4692]

Both are inspired by the same sort of history! (Hundred Years War + War of the Roses) It was funny when I originally played FFT a few months ago since it was also the time I was reading books about Hundred Years War (although that was a book on Edward the Third) and see the similarities was neat. To fully understand War of the Roses it is wise to do some reading of events from before it even start since it is a big clusterfuck if you just go into learning it without knowing any of the background.

[@reloadpsi]

They flat out say the words "game of thrones" in the PSP translation.

[@augustuslxiii]

@@reloadpsiThey... do? Because that show didn't come out until 2011, and the PSP version came out in 2007, if memory serves. (A Game of Thrones, the first book in ASOIAF, came out in the mid-90s, but it wasn't *super* well-known at the time. Guess it's possible it was inspiration, though.)

[@Mansini77]

Agreed. FF Tactics is not for the faint of heart. Many die, and there is plenty of betrayal to go around. FFT doesn’t have all the TnA that GoT has though, thankfully

[@hemangchauhan2864]

I can't tell you how helpful this is. I've bounced off FFT for so long, and in game tutorial weren't that great. Thank you so much for this. Love guides like these.

[@longliveartimus]

My favorite game of all time. I’ve played through it easily over 50 times. WOTL is my favorite version and I’ve upgraded all my characters even guest to 99 with every job. Thanks for the great video. If y’all need any input please feel free to reach out. I’m looking forward to your videos. Really enjoy the channel. Y’all are great.

[@rossrobertson674]

I've played at least 10 100+ hour campaigns, finding all the hidden items in the Deep Dungeon and poaching, getting all the secret characters and zodiac stones + mastering Ramza's Squire job with Ultima and a Summoner with Zodiac, this game has so much replay value cuz every battle is different and you only get to fight on certain maps one time during the story

[@totalpartykill999]

my personal tips for beginners: 1. make EVERYBODY a squire, after the battle that includes Delita. 2. you start with 6 members (not including Delita). dismiss 2 with the lowest stats. you are gonna need the extra space later. 3. set the top 2 abilities as Fundaments and Item, for EACH member. (Fundaments is Mettle for Ramza and Delita.) make sure everybody at least knows Potion, and it would be nice if at least 2 members knew Pheonix Down. 4. grind until everybody has these skills: Stone, Focus, JP Boost, Move +1, and Counter Tackle. when i say grind, that means walk back and forth over Mandalia Plains and DO NOT GO FURTHER JUST YET. 5. as you grind, make sure to keep your potions stocked to at least 20 before each battle. 6. after everyone as a squire has the above mentioned skills, switch your member with the highest faith to chemist. grind until this chemist learns auto-potion. eventually you want everyone to learn this. 7. for the most part, you will be ready to branch out however you want, and continue on to Dorter. so heres the reasoning behind this--once any member learns Focus and or Stone, then you gain the ability to farm JP for each action even if you don't swing at a monster, which synergizes with JP boost. also, when Item is assigned as a squire, then each member can heal themselves (and each other) while you are grinding without a chemist.

[@theshredguitarist25]

Thanks for such a long detailed explanation!

[@Kwak444]

And make sure to have someone in your party a dedicated thief if you want to snag good story mission loot.

[@SkyRaiders]

As a long time veteran of this game, and someone knowing way too much about this game, from being able to quote most of the lines, to knowing how almost every formula is calculated, I have to say this guide is 100% the best tips to go by, nice video man!!

[@jonathanabgrall6075]

Me : Played through the game several times, including a couple "Perfect" save files. Also me : Still going to watch this anywya.

[@FormOfKorn]

There's an error in your starter classes breakdown. Monk isn't unlocked by Archer or Thief, it's actually unlocked by reaching job level 2/3 in Knight (depending on your version of FFT). That being said, aside from that mistake it's a solid starter video. I get that this game can be daunting for new players at first, so it's a good starting point.

[@ResonantArc]

Thank you for the reminder. I've pinned a comment.

[@Scimarad]

Watching this video has brought sharply into focus why I've never finished this game despite really liking certain elements of it; It's just too much like hard work. I will definitely enjoy your videos on it, though. Of course, I heard that music and immediately did want to play it again.

[@carlb1874]

You can get through it without worrying too much about the zodiac system ( I never pay attention to it) best things to keep in mind is alternate save files and jp up ability does help a lot.

[@Scimarad]

@@carlb1874 yeah, I wasn't even aware of the zodiac system when I played this and I can't recall exactly why I stopped playing. It was a long long time ago!

[@frog6054]

Yeah, I had to do a lots of research and studying to understand this game properly but it is fun.

[@LongToad]

@@carlb1874 Yeah, I never bothered with the zodiac signs either. I mean, no matter what you choose you'll have about the same amount of counters/synergies anyways. Ultimately, in a game where Orlandu and Beowulf exist I don't think they cared too much about difficulty. The earlier acts can be tough without any game knowledge but worst case scenario you just grind to get past a tough story fight (monk really is amazing for almost everything). Also, if you need to grind, it's good to go to random encounters where humans spawn so you can steal/mediate characters to get gear you can't get yet.

[@WowlxX]

Great list! Many of the game's most basic stuff can be easily overlooked. Hell I was young but I played for a long time before realizing that I could change jobs. I thought I'd just eventually meet wizards and priests and knights to recruit but they never came and the warrior's guild never had any. A few more basic tips at the top of my head that I feel can be useful: - Moving your cursor to an enemy and pressing the cancel button will show its movement range. This makes it possible to move a character just outside its range and can be very helpful - Always unequip guest characters' equipment to keep for yourself and give them standard stuff instead, unless you want to keep the roleplay more realistic (like this character wouldnt give you his sword) - Regardless of what you do with Ramza, you might want to master his Squire job and make him learn Hi-Potion and even X-Potion. I'm sure people who've played the game know why I'm saying that and I'm sure there are other ways to get through "them" but I think you'll be grateful you did that - Check the equipment shops after every major story fight (the bigger circle fights) as they might have new equipment. There are for all intents and purposes two types of shops: warrior-oriented and magic-oriented. Be sure to check both types - If you

[@WowlxX]

If during a story fight against human enemies you become assured of victory, kill the enemy humans that have jobs that you have unlocked already and keep one you don't care about alive. Let the bodies of the enemies deteriorate and wish for crystals. If they turn into crystals, move a character that has his job unlocked onto the crystal and select "get job abilities" to get free job skills (doesnt always work). On the other hand if one of your characters turn into crystal considered this a game over and start again (as someone already pointed out in the comments)

[@srjohnwinstonlennon]

I love this game, my favorite FF game, Tactics and XII. Grew up playing FFT on the PS1, and man, the PSP version is incredible, but that battle at the rooftop, with Rafa and Malak... That battle made me rethink my entire life and choices

[@loka7783]

The only other suggestion I would add is to always have "Fundaments" as your second job class (at least for Chapter 1) so you have access to Focus on all four of your team. That way you will always have something you can do at any stage of every encounter. Yes it won't do much for your casters since they are not physical units but you fighters will adore this talent. More so Monks as they beef up very fast using this.

[@chrilz1498]

Thank you guys for this! I just started the game tonight, and now I'm exciting to listen to the podcast as I start making my way through the game.

[@coltdeedede]

So good to see one off videos again! Love the podcast, but definitely always enjoy a good short form video essay or retrospective!

[@cellobuddy251]

MY FAVORITE FINAL FANTASY GAME EVER! I'm going off of memory here, so here are some game breaking tips for this game. My tips in addition to this video is that if you wanna ggez unga bunga the game, random encounters scale to your level, but even more importantly, if you're lucky enough to encounter humans, their gear also happens to scale with level. In other words, if you grind out the early game like an absolute freak, you can get to lvl 99 with end game or better relatively easily and mindlessly while the story is literally still at lvl 5 as at some point, the gear these enemy human units will have are not purchasable. The fastest way to leveling is to increase Ramza's speed with tailwind over and over again while killing every other monster except 1 or 2. If you're lucky enough to have 2 low hp monsters left over during an encounter, they will not interact with you and simply hide for the rest of the game in a corner of the map. If one is left over, it will still try to fight you. For the rest of your team, level them however you want early, but keep them as a squire until you have enough JP for focus which increases their physical attack by 1. Once Ramza is at a decent speed doing 4-5 actions in a row before anyone else, start using tailwind repeatedly on one of your other units. Rinse and repeat until you're bored, maxed out your class, or have enough JP for the abilities you want. If Ramza happens to be a way higher level than one of your units that you're trying to train, great! Equip them with the weakest weapon available or without one at all and whack away at ramza's side or back as the hit chance from the front is lower than the rest. The exp you gain is scaled on what you're doing/targeting. Self-targeting abilities always give +10 exp while attacking weaker enemies can give less than 10exp. Same levels give around 12-15, but if you're hitting your over leveled Ramza, you can get as high as 52 exp per hit. Given that each level is only 100 exp, you can level up a new character super duper fast. When knight is unlocked fairly early on, you gain the ability to learn to rend things like attack power, speed, weapons, and armor. The most important rends for power leveling are speed and attack for obvious reasons. Doing Ramza's tailwind animation gets annoying after a while so this is a great alternative if you have a knight or a character dedicated to keeping their abilities as their secondary. By constantly reding power and speed down to 1, monsters will barely be able to act, and even if they do, they'll be hitting 1s. But at some point, you won't be able to lower their speed or power anymore and won't be rewarded with EXP or JP. So, either have a secondary class with a pretty much unlimited self-target spell like focus or thief spells to steal things like gil from enemy units. Another tip is to double down on the Monk class like Resonant Arc was mentioning. Their abilities are powerful, but the most useful ability for any physical damage character is the monk's "counter" ability. You'll carry that ability pretty much until the end of the game and you can unlock it very early on even without my leveling method. My last tip to stop myself from any unintentional mid and end game spoilers is to check the bravery/faith of the units you randomly start with. Sometimes, they will have pathetically low bravery or faith. I once had terrible starting units with 48 bravery. This is the only point in the game where recruiting new units is viable for a better start. Look for good knight/mage path units with the highest stat of bravery or faith possible which I think is 72. That isn't to say that low bravery/faith units are bad, but that it will be a significant amount of time before you're able to boost those stats. Bonus tip, the less faith you have, the less affected you are by magick spells by both damage and hit chance. This includes healing magick so be warned. Last thing I swear, you won't need to worry about backup saves if you are over leveled :D

[@kaminosai]

Another thing about learning the UI: You can press the Select button on absolutely every single aspect of the UI to learn more info. Doing this on some screens will pop up a cursor you can use to bounce around every UI element and learn what it means, or get more info about equipment/skills/etc.

[@rossrobertson674]

That's how I learned everything back when we didn't have youtube

[@Protoman20xx99]

The "select" button gives an cursor that allows you to get a brief explanation of everything! Take time to use it and get to understand stats, items, weapons, and skills.

[@Earth313n]

As I played the game over and over and I think I memories all the tactics that I need to beat the game. I can't say anything about your tips for the first timers. Thank you for the effort. I really appreciate any good video about FFT. It make me happy to see people play my favorite game.

[@XxItachi100xX]

This is one of my top most favorite games of all time. I almost play it every year of my life and not even I understood the zodiac signs! I’m so happy to see this get its light recently. It’s such a good game and I wish more people knew about it!!! Thank you for covering it!

[@renewagain6956]

8:08 In cases where the character already is at full HP, this method won't grant you any JP. Not sure about reapplying buffs already on a character, but presumably its the same way. This is why the "accumlate" ability in the Squire class comes so highly recommended, you can spam this endlessly for JP (unless you manage to hit the hard cap of 100 attack during a battle, but that would take hours).

[@vinceb209]

Still my favorite rpg of all time. Can't wait to hear you guys discuss this in great detail.

[@cultured-fuel543]

This video is perfect for newcomers to FFT. It shows the BEST means to start the game off correctly. I am so excited for the podcast to cover this amazing game.

[@timothyalabi]

Yes! I’m so excited, I just finished a play through coincidentally. The Warrior Guild makes almost no sense until you understand the importance of the Zodiac compatibility, the first few play through I had of the game I thought “It’s weird that my characters all seem to suck at healing this play through” My first task in any play through is mastering Squire for everyone, it’s a great utility class, it’s like a soft Monk with better defense. Dorter Trade City is a sobering skill check, that long bow archer can wipe all of your magic users and their Black Mages hit with Fire2 Will there be a whole episode about the Wiegraf fight? Haha

[@cellobuddy251]

Fighting any special knight classes when you've barely gotten through mastering knight is soooooo painful lol. Especially when some of them can do damage AND break your gear :/

[@timothyalabi]

@@cellobuddy251 definitely, everyone needs to learn Safeguard by Meliadoul

[@justsomebody-1665]

Honestly I've always ignored the zodiac signs thing completely, and it's never been a problem. I'm sure it could help some people, but it feels like you're making things more complicated (and daunting for newcomers) than needed. But maybe thats just me.

[@michaelcoraybrown]

It's mostly luck of the draw. It can either really help you, not really be much of a factor, or really hurt you. That's why it's important to at least take note of it. Don't let it hurt you.

[@exxy9931]

I think this is a WoL-only (PSP) tip but someone correct me if I'm wrong. You can actually get skills/spells from the crystals that pop up after (human) enemy corpses. The portion that I believe is WoL-specific, however, is that you should always pick the last skill as it works as an "All of the above," option for some reason. It's been YEARS since I've played this (as my friend in high school short-circuited my PSP in high school). Needless to say, I'm happy this game still gets coverage today. It's one of the few games I actually maxed out the in-game time log on (as in 99h 99m kind of thing). Edit: You can also use certain skills to permanently boost your Bravery/Faith (something like +4 per use in battle and then after battle you get 1/4th of the total boost - I want to say Orators have it but I genuinely can't remember at this point). I believe this can have negative consequences (for example, if I recall correctly high Faith makes you more susceptible to magic - both healing and damaging).

[@rendiorton499]

The charm of this game is what makes me keep coming back every year to finish it, alongside the other final fantasy tactics advance games

[@heathrileyy]

Can't wait! My two favorite games are Xenogears and FFT. So this is perfect, thank you!

[@josephhott2921]

i like this video a lot. it is informative but it still leaves the cool stuff for ppl to figure out.

[@LukeLavablade]

I'm really glad you led with the thing about zodiac signs, it rapidly convinced me that this video would inform me about things I didn't already know!

[@WildMatsu]

This is all good advice. You did your subscribers a service by putting this video out. FFT really does need this explained, because if you skip the tutorial it's easy to completely overlook Zodiac compatibility, Brave and Faith. Rather than Capricorn + Virgo + Taurus, I would suggest making Ramza a Pisces and building your team around Pisces + Cancer + Scorpio. This makes the two most important named NPCs fit into your team: Agrias (Cancer) and Orlandeau (Scorpio). And while these NPCs are not as strong or important, this triangle also gives you Alicia (Pisces), Rapha (also Pisces), and Reis (yup, also Pisces.) Furthermore, Pisces gives Ramza worst compatibility with male Virgos, which helps a lot when Ramza is forced into a duel against a male Virgo, which happens TWICE. The only NPCs you get with Capricorn + Virgo + Taurus are Rad, a glorified generic, and Meliadoul, whose special abilities are useless against monsters, and who is superseded by Orlandeau when he joins not long after her. Yes, Orlandeau also supersedes Agrias, but Agrias is in your party for a LONG time before he joins.

[@WildMatsu]

Actually, I have to take back the claim that this is all good advice. Making Ramza a Capricorn gives him good compatibility with Wiegraf, which is VERY BAD. It makes the game's biggest difficulty spike significantly worse.

[@David_Alvarez77]

I always liked auto-potion. Makes the gameplay pretty smooth. Just be sure to buy enough of the strongest potions. Also, if you train everyone in theif a bit, you can unlock move+2 for them and that's nice. A chemist with a nice gun can serve you well throughout the whole game just as well as a priest, maybe better. This is even more true if you make a certain special character the gun wielding chemist.

[@rossrobertson674]

Definitely with magic users and others who stay back, counter is great if you have high evasion/a sheild and run up in the middle of a bunch of attackers

[@whyshouldibeats]

As a complete newbie to this game, it was very intimidating when I first picked it up. This helped out, thanks.

[@mr.horseshoe2301]

Another tip: make use of the SELECT button. You get a mini pop-up that explains anything you can highlight in the UI.

[@laserfocus6178]

So thoughtful of you guys to release this tip video! It shows that this game can have brutal difficulty for those who just try to brute-force their way. Another thing, I think new players shouldn't get too hung-up on the zodiac signs. As far as I know, almost everyone doesn't care about it on their first playthrough and can still beat the game (as long as you have back-up save files :D). If you've made mistakes on your team zodiac compatibility in the middle of the story, there's still plenty of strategies to cover up upcoming challenges! For new players, have fun with discovering the mechanics and the story of the game! Envy you guys!

[@ghostfacekhila]

Very helpful video! Im in the middle of chapter one now. That black mage offensive magic is helping me big time!!!

[@ArmoredCore5000]

I cannot thank you enough for this video. As a FFT veteran from the original ps1 release, even I found alot of useful information in this video as I get back into the game all over again!

[@harmlessanimeposter3379]

small correction: the [Party Level - Random] mechanic that random battles use for determining enemy levels is based on simply the highest level person on your party roster, and not specifically Ramza. not a huge deal, but if someone thinks they can get around it by leveling everyone else up and not leveling Ramza, they would be mistaken

[@rossrobertson674]

That was factoring in when I got Orlandu and with the Excalibur having haste he quickly leveled up and I realized the enemies were too

[@SuperiorElectronics]

Great job making this video - thank you so much! Diving into the game for the first time having now beated VI-XV and heard great things about Tactics

[@AdrianCardoza]

13:38 no lie. Didn’t realize I could learn abilities as well until the end of chapter 2. Almost quit cause Golgorand Execution Site was too hard. All my characters could barely move and had no abilities to help lol.

[@AceBadguy]

Oh man. I beat this game as a teen but I had no idea about Zodiac comparability. You really blew my mind here.

[@gushen_]

Saving this video for when I get around to playing FFT. I appreciate the tips you highlighted in this video and will be sure to use them in my own eventual playthrough!

[@AWFarmer]

I learned about the zodiac system on a 3rd+ playthrough where I couldn't damage... Virgo, I think. I also, then learned about needing backup saves. Solid game.

[@percivaldulac5887]

Hey, Mike! I love your videos, and I always appreciate the work you put into everything you produce. One point of clarification, the enemies levels are not based on Ramza's level. They are based on the average level of the entire party.

[@Elositofluffy]

I know you covered the first chapter, but One or two things I would add is, well in my case, learn the move up +1,+2,+3. Keeping your mobility up is good for escaping if necessary or to reach an enemy faster. "Move find item" is mostly needed in the Dungeon area nearly the end of the game. And also learn Steal from thieves. A lot of the battles have enemies with weapons currently not in shops, so you can have a stronger character early in the game and for free. And also there is a chance of getting rare items too. As an example the second fight with Elmdor pretty much all his samurai gear is rare so stealing all his gear it's a huge win, the only problem is the probability success ratio is way to low but it's possible.

[@jonaskristiansen781]

Great video Mike. I've been intimidated by Final Fantasy Tactics for quite sometime. I remember trying it out a few months ago but the difficulty during the first chapter was brutal for me. I couldn't wrap my head around the zodiac signs. I didn't think the Brave or faith stat mattered all that much since it was random. I thought I could just brute force it by grinding, that just made it worse as I didn't have the JP up ability learned either. As you can see my first experience was a disaster, however now with these tips and tricks I feel like I really want to give it a second chance because I remember enjoying the music and story immensely. It just frustrated me that I felt incompetent when it came to the combat. I'll boot it back up again tonight so I can play along with you guys.

[@ESNN20]

1 tip to wreck 99% of the content and bosses with no problem? Unlock ninja and learn 2 swords then apply it to other jobs like monk with their ridiculous physical strength or knights to duo wield knight swords. Outside of the secret bosses, this will wreck all the story bosses and enemies with no issue.

[@tel4650]

This and six are my favorite in the franchise. Thanks for this.

[@dycedarg19]

I go back and forth between FFT and FFVII as my favorites. FFVI was my favorite until those came out. I remember those days renting the SNES FFVI from Blockbuster and didn’t know why I always died on the tower (I didn’t know about the auto-revive until the PS1 version! 😢)

[@ChocolatierRob]

I listened to your patreon stream of this at work last week and so can tell which of these tips you have only just realised or had forgotten since last time until you got hung up on them anew ;) Playing through this game can be a real chore and I'm still backlogged on games from the last year or two so I'll not be playing along but this is certainly going to be a fun series. Have fun you two.

[@teetea7734]

The only tips I've never used are the first 3 tips. They're good tips, but I never really had any real trouble as long as I watched the turn order and unit positions and planned accordingly. All-in-all, great video!

[@educateyourself3872]

Great tips!!! #10... that’s how I got myself in a corner and couldn’t continue and stopped playing like 15 years ago or whenever it was! I’m going to give it another go!

[@RiskyStrats]

This video is great! To the point, nothing too advanced like end game builds for Ramza. Just a couple tips on what to look out for when starting the game for the first time. And the high quality of the voice over makes it easy to watch. Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

[@MichaelFlare]

God bless you for making this video. I am an RPG fanatic especially PS1. My goal is to beat every single top rated PS1 RPG for the past 16 years. This game has ALWAYS shown up on A LOT of top rated PS1 RPGs I have researched throughout the years. I never wanted to play this game. I have never really played a tactical/strategy RPG before, it’s not my liking. I knew I had to play this game because it’s on my list. My God, this is probably the most difficult RPG I have ever played, and I have beaten SO MUCH in my life. The first hour of playing, I was like “I’m going to hate this miserable game”. I played for 2.5 hours and I actually started liking the game, such an incredible and different way/layout of storytelling, just wow. I stumbled upon this video, and I’m like good God, I did everything wrong. I made the decision to scrap my game and start over with all your tips. Even with all these tricks, this game is still HARD AS F***! Especially at only the FOURTH battle in the game (he even talks about it at **8:38** that is the EXACT battle I’m talking about). Those d*** wizards and archers, WTF!!! I did that battle 10+ times for hours and kept losing no matter what I did (playing on an emulator and abusing save states like crazy! Love it!). So I eventually went back and forth grinding to get better abilities to finally beat it. I was having that much trouble with ALL these tips. I even read the entire tutorial for over an hour before starting this game because I really wanted to enjoy/umderstand the game, not just beat it. I can tell with all these tips, I’m basically going to be very well off and enjoy the rest of the game, because I can beat the battles afterwards on first try and easier than the first run through I did. Thank you so much.

[@tebbtebberton1007]

While I'm not about to argue that keeping a small focused party for keeping on par or above the encounter levels is a good tip, I might also reccomend, for those of us that enjoy branching out and trying different party set ups, (or even just collecting and using all the unique characters instead of relying on the generics), the way I am currently playing involves a lot of early jp grinding, but keeps the average party level down a bit: Every unit gets assigned a job. When a new job becomes available, the next unit in the party gets that job, and they get trained up until they can become that class, and one or two abilities from that class can be learned. Every unit is kept well equipped, and every battle sees only the lowest level and exp units, regardless of job, with the only exception being mandatory units (Ramza) for plot battles, of course. It has really helped open up how useful some classes can really be, in spite of any percieved flaws from when I was much younger. I used to be very afraid of battles with more than 1 yellow chocobo, because I had been in situations where I couldn't quite out damage thier Chococure, leading to an endless battle or, more drastically, being unable to rescue a KO'd unit before the battle ends cause I just can't kill the last damn chocobo(s). (Granted, I also learned the lesson hard enough to make sure almost every unit has the item command and a bear minimum of potion and phoenix down, which coincidentally is one of the 10 tips here). Point is, having a full roster gameplay style isn't the worst thing (especially if the unique characters are interesting to you), but I would reccomend at least a little degree of making sure to cycle characters in and out, in both random encounters (leave Ramza out if the plot battles have been pushing him ahead), and plot battles.

[@nTrylo]

between the PS1 and iOS app I've completed this game in full, including rescuing all secret characters and stealing all essential weapons 11 of the 14 times I've played through. I traveled for work for a decade and took it everywhere with me. It's timeless. A tip to heed is that certain select classes benefit from low brave/faith stats. Recruiting brave/faith stats in the mid 60's is fine for early game, and can be raised permanently later.

[@guidofedeli851]

Tailwind is absolutely broken. Before even starting with archers, I've started the game with Ramza continuously speeding up my Black Mage. Most units get melted before they even have a chance of getting close.

[@timothyalabi]

Ramza Squire class is so overpowered and I never realized that until I played through a few times. The way that he can buff himself makes it arguably the strongest class in the game.

[@guidofedeli851]

@@timothyalabi agreed. And to think, when I first started playing I thought he was weak as hell. He sure showed me.

[@CharleyTurner]

Tailwind just raises the speed of your character but still have to have the MP and low CT count for the spells. But I agree tailwind is an amazing move to use especially if you need one of your characters to gain a ton of JP early on just raise their speed like crazy and attack with them every turn. 😉

[@guidofedeli851]

@@CharleyTurner yeah, it doesn't really power up my Black Mage nor give him anything extra, but given that black magic is very strong and he'll always attack first, he became my nuke button in every stage everytime someone breathes near him and doesn't start with a ranged attack themselves (magic, archery, whatever)

[@thejawgz6719]

It took me 3 tries to beat Final Fantasy Tactics. The first time, as a kid, I completely gave up on it shortly after the tutorial because I simply didn't "get" the tactical RPG genre. The second time, I was enjoying the game but got locked into an unwinnable 1-v-1 boss fight against a certain loathsome individual who shall remain nameless. Absolutely YES on the backup save!! I repeat,to anyone watching or reading, DO USE A BACKUP SAVE!!!! MULTIPLE IF YOU CAN! The third time, I finally beat the game but found that the difficulty curve was chaotic at best, at times really difficult and at times a total cakewalk, which was infinitely disappointing after an otherwise stellar gaming experience. I don't necessarily agree that Zodiac compatibility is essential to conquering the game or even important, to be honest, because I found that simply starting off the game with Ramza, 2 generic males with 65+ Brave, and 2 generic females with 65+ Faith was more than enough to keep me going. JP Gain really is crucial though! Definitly wise to put it on at least 2-3 characters. Lastly (and I may have missed you mention this), although it's very important to give Ramza a certain amount of Job versatility for a good while, something the game never tells you--and thus I don't consider this a spoiler--is that Squire can technically be considered Ramza's special class. The game treats him differently than other Squires, so once he gets enough JP in the other classes that you want, you'll want to revert him back to Squire eventually. Super excited for the podcast!

[@Galaxy-ds4lw]

That boss fight is burned in my memory.

[@rossrobertson674]

I remember FF7 just came out and we would all be playing that and one friend had tactics and we just thought it looked so boring, fast forward 20 years and I've played over 10 100+ hour campaigns finding everything

[@rossrobertson674]

Yep, Ramza as a Squire is like the special knight classes that Orlando, Agrais, Gafgarion etc have, he can wear armor and use knight swords and if he survives a hit from Ultima he learns it

[@rossrobertson674]

Your comment has so much to respond to lol, the first time I played 20 years ago I only had 1 save file and when I fought 1vs1 against he who shall remain nameless I was at a severe disadvantage on account of me leveling up Ramza as aSummoner/Priest for the whole game 🤦, after many beatings I finally was able to squeeze out a victory by making him a ninja, the double attack was the deciding factor

[@AdrianCardoza]

14:40 so important and I will also stress this as well. Have a backup save file before you go into a story sequence. These are red/orange dots on the map. There is a fight in Chapter 3 that has forced players to restart their game if you don’t have a backup save!

[@neil4692]

Can't wait for the podcast! I didn't have much trouble with it when I played it around 5 months or so ago but I did come straight from my 200+ hour playthrough of Tactics Ogre so I was very used to complex systems (that game was insane in how they balanced it with all the systems it had). I just went and used rocks to grind JP to get Ramza as a Dark Knight after chapter 1 while not overlevelling myself and used the guest characters mainly.

[@SilverLimit]

I’ve got a long flight coming up tomorrow, so I’ve decided to go in on the iPad version to follow along. Gotta say, this game is a great fit for touch controls!

[@doctordungus7774]

Thank you for these Final Fantasy Tactics videos. FFT has been my favorite game most of my life, and it's great to see people celebrating it.

[@pablostadler6392]

Great info!. I Beat the game a couple of times. Let me give 2 more tips for anyone out there getting started on this one. 1. Insted of using items at the end of the turn to gain exp if your units can't do anything else, make them learn "Accumulate" from the squire class. It's a little expensive but saving items in the long run is better i think. 2. Every time a Human enemy dies, it has a chance of letting behind a crystal that can cure yourself or let you learn any ability that human character had learn (you need to have that job unlocked). When you're in a battle and only 1 enemy is left behind i tend to let all others defeated enemies dissapear and collect their crystals to learn new abilities. It's a great way to save jp. . Extra tip for late in the story: if you want to breeze trough the game, keep and use every "special" characters you collect during your playthrough. This along with a few specific jobs (like calculator) take away huge part of this game difficulty.

[@WildMatsu]

> keep and use every "special" characters you collect during your playthrough Agreed except for this. Most special characters are bad. Agrias and Orlandeau are great, but Rapha and Marach are terrible. Meliadoul is very situational, as her abilities do not do any damage if the target does not have the right kind of equipment, which makes her useless against monsters. Cloud joins at level 1 and is not good even if you find the special weapon he needs to even use his abilities and level him up.

[@pablostadler6392]

@@WildMatsu yeah i know. I just didn't want to spoil the names for those who didnt't played the game. But you're right. Let's say that 70% of them are great. Twins suck so bad that it hurts XD

[@ahmedfalahy9337]

Pro-tip: If you are building a magic-based character, then get the Time Mage support ability *Swiftness* This ability is so OP for spell casters, reducing the cast time by a lot. Some high tier spells may need 5~8 turns to normally cast but with Swiftness, you may need 2~3 turns or even immediate cast if your mage is hasted

[@zera2314]

I'm not sure if this tip was mentioned in the video, but with regards to Brave and Faith, you can permanently increase these stats if you cast buffs on your party members in battle that provide additional brave and faith. I believe the way it works is for every 4 Brave or Faith buffed in battle, the character will keep +1 Brave or Faith permanently. I.e: If Ramza casts Shout/Scream and increases his Bravery by 5, he will permanently keep 1 Brave after the battle. This counts for every cast under 100 total Brave. So if he starts the battle with 80 Brave, and casts Scream twice (+10 Brave), he will have 82 Brave permanently after the battle. Brave and Faith max out at 100, but the downside is that if non-main characters reach 0 or 100 Brave or Faith, they will leave your party. Either from being too cocky/faithful, or being too cowardly/faithless.

[@zidaryn]

Didn't know about people leaving from having too high or too low of Brave/Faith.

[@orcbrand]

So excited for your Wednesday podcast. I'm curious Mike if you ever played Yasumi Matsuno's predecessors to it - ogre battle is a bit of a distant relative, but FFT is very much a spiritual successor to tactics ogre. So much so that s.enix have retroactively worked it into yvalice compilation when they remade it in 2010 (retroactively working in references to vagrant story as well). Ogre battle much like yvalice games are framed as historical accounts of past events. Tactics ogre even has you picking your birthday as the first thing you do in the game, with denam's birthday also defaulting to January 1 (later ogre battle games default main character's birthday to other dates so while it's arguably just a convenient point to default to, it does stand out as a connection). I'll comment on other connections as they come up in your podcast, as the influence is very very strong. Best of luck on your journey through this mammoth of a game. It's no xenogears, but it's definitely gonna be a lot of work. I'll be following closely!

[@Getloose360]

Love your content! Between the PS and multiple PSP versions (for co-op) I have well over 2500 hours of game time invested with characters that have all jobs unlocked and mastered. Heck I have 2 PSPs charged at my bedside with Tactics ready to go. To say its a game I love would be an understatement..Agrias, Alicia, Lavian, Beowulf, Reis, Meliadoul, Rafa and Malak and even good ole Ladd. Characters you bonded with and cared for...timeless game.

[@woodwart]

He forgot probably the most important tip in the game. Make sure you get abilities from enemies after they die. You have to wait. 3 turns before they turn into crystals. This is by far the most important thing in the early game. Especially for mages. Never waste your job points on buying most abilities yourself. Make sure you get them from enemies thst turn into crystals.

[@Hero4fun77]

I missed a few already :/, but I'm not that far yet into the game. Good to know thank you very much.

[@Mansini77]

Those abilities are fairly random and usually basic abilities that cost 100-200 JP.

[@suikofan]

I remember trying to play it back in the day but never got that far, I remember recruiting some twins. But I've had it on the Vita for a while and decided this is a great reason to finally play it and HOLY SHIT ITS SO SLOOOW!

[@TheJustproxy]

you mean in the spell animations? That's a bug sadly, there's a fix for that if you have the patience of installing it

[@dycedarg19]

There is a cutscene where they are describing the story…I think it’s between the chapters. It really slow. I think Malak and Rafa are the worst NPC’s you get. I always let them go without reading their sad pleas!

[@absoul112]

I'm so glad I found this guide. I just started yesterday so this will help out tremendously.

[@Greatermaxim]

Great guide. I have beat the game in multiple ways. Never hurts to go back to the basics sometimes. Something to note is that if you have Ramza with Math Skill he can paralyze the field wearing Thief Hat. If you want to recruit new characters and/or level up Cloud from level 1 it will skyrocket. You can always degenerate levels in this game. It depends on how much of a challenge you want.

[@gepoo8025]

Playing this game for the first time in like a decade. Deciding to watch this video and I learned something. I didn't know about zodiac sign compatibility. I've unlocked every character and class and beaten the game many times but did not know about the zodiac compatibility. The other tips are great if you are new to the game or maybe haven't played it many times.

[@pinkfloyd36123]

i've always wanted to play tactics but couldn't get more than an hour into it, and altho these tips are definitely helpful it also kinda highlights why i'm not sure if this game is for me. the amount of micromanagement, rng and obscure mechanics is just kinda insane, even in this genre. having to learn the zodiac so that my characters don't suck just sounds stupid to me lmao

[@dycedarg19]

Once you figure out how easy it is to navigate the little nuances of job class such as which job opens up the others, the game should open up. I always ignore the zodiac compatibility and mathematician job class (yes I know it’s probably the best class). It’s nowhere as complex as the junctioning in FF8 and the Sora forms in KH2 menus.

[@pinkfloyd36123]

@@dycedarg19 wait... you think tactics is easier to grasp than kh2's forms? idek what u could be confused about with kh2, the forms all have their own abilities and by leveling them up you gain movement abilities for base sora. that's it

[@dycedarg19]

@@pinkfloyd36123 that’s why I like KH1 the best. It’s mostly all of the menu customizations. I don’t think I used any of Sora’s forms.

[@Quintonpiano14]

Great great video! Learned some new things as I am just getting back into Tactics since playing as a kid and there is so much I didnt know! Also that clip of the Wiergraf fight gives me slight ptsd because thats a battle I believe I had to restart on twice due to not having a backup save so that part got me hahahaha

[@Epiphanetic_]

Perfect timing for this video since I just started a playthru last week.

[@Hotsaucedeluxe]

Great tips. I never paid attention to zodiac compatibility. Seemed like a hassle.

[@jaycon45]

Thanks. Really handy tips. I also found that learning auto potion is useful too. This is probably my 5th playthrough and I absolutely cannot get through this game without atlest doing the chapter 1 grind. Anyways I'm looking forward to playing along.

[@dycedarg19]

Yes, auto potion with x-potions once their available! +150 👍🏻

[@specknacken6507]

For people planning to play the PSP version of Tactics on an emulator: There's a romhack called "Final Fantasy Tactics - War of the Lions Tweak" which greatly reduces some of the more annoying aspects of the game. Some QOL improvements include: Controllable “Guest” characters, JP Boost always in effect and you can choose if you want to fight a random battle. If you're not a against emulation and rather play on OG hardware i HIGHLY recommend this mod.

[@orcbrand]

Does this hack address the slow-down issues of the PSP remake? I beat the PSX version so many times - and while I love the new translation (hot take lol) I couldnt bring myself to beat it on PSP because the slow downs on animations were far too aggravating for me.

[@WildMatsu]

@@orcbrand It does! Also, if you have a modded PSP, you can even play this mod on hardware.

[@CoronelMargarina]

I finished this game yesterday. It was awesome. I've got 2 tips for you: 1: Ninja job, martial arts abillity. Give him/her auto potion, punch art and increase brave using Ramza's cheer up ability, it permanently increases the brave stat at the end of the fight for 1/4 of the total amount you raised, meaning that after a few fights it should be high enough, around 85/90 is good enough. One shot machine. Move +2/3 for extra power. 2: Get Orlandu in your party as soon as him joins. Man's op as fuck.

[@PKSurebu]

Really looking forward to this feature!! Loving your channel so far (got completely lost in xenogears), and I can't wait to see what you guys cook up with one of my favorite games of all time. I'm currently replaying the Lion War mod so i'll pause until you get some more episodes out. I feel like I've heard and experienced everything there is to know and do in this game... but who knows, maybe I will learn a thing or two!

[@jamesmartin3233]

Just wondering if I should worry about a backup save?

[@justinbutcher2183]

I'm a noob at this game I just picked it up on my phone one day started playing it and honestly it is daunting and extremely hard but that only makes me want to play even more I love a challenge and this gives me great insight on how to play the game

[@Frank_Costanzas_Lawyer]

Listening to this while rolling new characters in FFT on my phone _and_ while FF12 is auto-farming in the background, courtesy of the Gambit system. Thanks for the concise, informative video--now I finally know why my characters have sucked for the longest time!

[@steven-lee]

this is random as FUCK but 1st) this video is a1, 2nd) i literally just got interested in playing fft yesterday since i liked ffta so much as a kid. i found this video having no idea it was uploaded the day i found it. the info is great and i cant wait for the podcast! hopefully i'll be elbow deep in the game by the time i see it!

[@defiantparsnip]

I think for beginners it's actually better to focus on low faith builds. The computer is essentially always at an advantage with magic because it inherently knows charge times, compatibility, and spatial calculations that a new player won't. Taking faith out of the equation makes the game much easier. Most of the buffs and curative spells aren't worth it, especially once the player unlocks monks. A full party of monks with Basic Skill + Punch Arts is sufficient to cheese 80% of the game.

[@claudio3431]

I really appreciate these tips in terms of getting more knowledge of the game but I got to say something. Min-maxing in this way is definitely not for everyone. If you feel like you are the kind of player who likes to play with what it was given to you (call it RNG, Fate or destiny or just a good challenge) and explore the richness and uncertainties of a retro game then you should be careful with following a checklist of tips. Especially with the jobs and skills selection, I think the fun is in discovering their own favs strats. I know the idea is to help people but sometimes I do wonder if we are getting less and less patience to gaming failures and difficulty curves. I might be going sidetracked here but thanks for the effort in making this video! Even when its not for me (or some people that I do know), it definitely feels like a lot of people could find it very useful!

[@michaelcoraybrown]

I appreciate the comment, but this list of tips is not about min-maxing in any way. I am not a min-maxing kind of player. FFT is unique in that you can play pretty far into the game and get stuck--meaning you CANNOT progress no matter what you do. It is badly designed on that front and I simply know too many people who gave up in frustration. I'm trying to help people avoid that.

[@claudio3431]

@@michaelcoraybrown I get where you are coming from. You have an experience of knowing people that gave up on the game because of frustration. But my comment comes from my own experience of introducing the game to a lot of players who enjoyed the uncertainties and customization of Final Fantasy Tactics. What you describe as a potential wall that doesn't allow players to progress, I see it as a motivation to learn and try again with the knowledge from your failures. Its what I mentioned by the idea that we are getting less patient with gameovers in games (or maybe we are more busy with other things). Anyways, I still think this video is useful and I certainly agree that the game has some questionable bad decisions but I stay firm on my idea that this 10 tips videos for new players are not for everyone, but maybe more tailored for players who are struggling with the game.

[@michaelcoraybrown]

@@claudio3431 I think that's fair. Those who feel the way you do probably won't look for tips anyway, since that's antithetical to how they enjoy playing. That said, getting 20 hours into a game--and getting trapped in a situation that makes it impossible to progress--is orders of magnitude more frustrating than just getting stuck on a hard boss or something. I don't think it's really comparable to the typical kind of rage-quitting you might see after a couple of game over screens. Learning from your mistakes and trying again, in this case, requires restarting the game from the beginning--not something I would blame anyone for refusing to do.

[@claudio3431]

@@michaelcoraybrown I don't exactly agree with that sentiment. If anything I think its an incentive to be even more strategic in how you plan out your gameplay and for a tactical RPG, that is something of a boon. But hey I am super biased since restarting the game is a blessing in disguise for me haha! Having said that, I can definitely see that others might feel it the opposite like what you describe (especially if they have no prior experience with SRPG). This video is not for me but I am 100% going to follow your podcasts on the game plot! I absolutely loved what you guys did with Xenogears! Thanks for the responses and hopefully my comments did not read in a wrong way.

[@ImJaredRoss]

Are you and Casen going to be playing the same version or is one of you going to play the PS1 version and the other the War of the Lions version?

[@Macfierce1]

These are great tips and it makes me wonder how the hell i figured all of this out in a time when the internet barely existed and beginner guides did not exist. I guess i just put a LOT of time into this great game. Now about that remaster... SE get it done!!!

[@denglongfist4270]

All of this is great advise, and truly necessary on this game. But the MVP, is tip #10. On behalf of all the players that suffered on the those two sequences later in the game. thanks for reminding fr the get go to back up saves

[@WeiderMystic]

Step 1: First battle, kill everything but one chemist, surround it in a corner if possible, throw stone and dash it until you level up your units to acquire ramza's yell/shout skill, you can use pray to heal the enemy chemist if needed - usually it pots. Step 2: Second battle - stock up on potions as best you can before hand, change jobs to the next thing on your list, kill everything but one thing - leave a yellow chocobo if there is one because it heals itself, use ramza to yell (the one that increases speed) until he's got 99 speed (IIRC), then do another character, then another, and so on. throw stone/dash/steal/ until you have leveled the jobs significantly. Yes, this takes time, but once you've maxed out these jobs it makes the rest of the story so much easier up until chapter 2. Note, as your level goes up, so do the random encounters, so take care not to overdo it because the random monsters get super hard when you dont have access to the gear. Monk scales the best for raw damage dealer, especially combined with ramza's yell, until you get access to good weapons, and accumulate is a great leveling skill. Always keep ramza's squire class as your secondary skill when leveling other jobs with him.

[@hayrogarciga924]

Woohoo!!!! Can't wait for this series, i am currently playing again. I'll wait till you all catch up

[@rickthe533]

I played this game in 7th grade in the late 90s and multiple times since ....damn good game. One of the best ever.

[@Jordan3DS]

1. Use TG Cid Congrats, you win!

[@joshstockwell7427]

Lol. Thunder god slays everything

[@braddye4983]

Made notes, might be helpful so sharing: Final Fantasy Tactics Tips 1. Study the Zodiac signs
Set Ramsa’s birthday to 1/1 (Capricorn) Compatable with 1 male Tarus and 2 female Virgo 2. Recruit just 3 fighters 3. Recruit Characters with high brave and faith 4. Unlock JP Up Ability for every character ASAP
Don’t grind until this is set up and your 4 characters are even leveled 5. JP is earned through Action so always perform action 6. Work on these classes: 
2 characters on Chemist class - for white / black mage also work on oracle job (paralyze) Black mage on time mage 
1 character on archer, or thief -> Monk 
Teach arms Tailwind 7. Check the turn order 8. Attack from behind (or sides) 9. Get familar with the UI
 Learn then Set abilities 10. ALWAYS make a backup save

Bonus: Utilize the Tutorial

[@BLACKDISC]

Really appreciate this guide for new players. Looking forward to the podcast!