JRPGs

Rajaah · Nov 15, 2022

Indyocracy said:
I used to really be into challenge runs, so I did a bunch of solo class runs where you can't use any abilities outside of your chosen job. There are certain fights that have killed entire runs *cough* Weigraf *cough* and many of the final battles can be chores

Yeah, I like doing "all one class" runs in FF1. I've beaten the game with everything except 4x White Mage so far. 4x Thief was insanely rough for the first half. Like "do 1 damage all the time unless critical" rough.

I can't imagine single-character runs in FFT go well. I'm guessing you mean 5 characters that are all the same class? Do you stick with that one class throughout? That could be interesting. But yeah, Wiegraf should be like a brick wall for most single-character challenges. Monk might be able to manage him, maybe Thief. Ninja and Dragoon too if their weapons are available that early (pretty sure they are).

Szeth said:
The real challenge in that fight is that you need to steal his sword.

Never did that, always just tried to drop him ASAP. I suppose if you reloaded until you stole his sword on the first turn, he'd basically be neutered for the rest.

Another one is Gafgarion at Golgorand Execution Site. He has the Blood Sword for that one, which is so wildly OP in this game (at least until like, the endgame weapons come along). Definitely the best Blood Sword since FF2's. However it's always a total chore to try and get it from him while you have like eight mobs raining arrows and spells on you.

Rezz said:
I wouldn't even call it hard for the normal gameplay - the Weigraf 1:1 fight just has an absolutely retarded save point right before and if you weren't doing multiple saves (siblings/parents that played the PS1 a lot; memory card space wasn't free for my 17 year old unemployed ass) can absolutely completely ruin a playthrough. Otherwise, if you didn't fall into that trap, you would eventually by just moving around the map and doing stuff be able to overcome the non-Deep Dungeon game.

Once you're aware of the retarded save trap, it's basically just playing with builds or abusing JP Up and the Squire ability. Absolutely everyone's second playthrough if they got tricked certainly involved grinding to avoid getting fooled again. And probably a lot of more careful save management just in case it happens again.

That save point really was retarded. I abused the grinding and Squire abilites on the second-run through myself, ended up having Ramza soloing fights and stuff.

1998, a little boy played FFT for the first time, was caught off guard by Wiegraf, and Square tricked him into saving right before the fight. That little boy was me

Indyocracy · Nov 15, 2022

Rajaah said:
Yeah, I like doing "all one class" runs in FF1. I've beaten the game with everything except 4x White Mage so far. 4x Thief was insanely rough for the first half. Like "do 1 damage all the time unless critical" rough.

I can't imagine single-character runs in FFT go well. I'm guessing you mean 5 characters that are all the same class? Do you stick with that one class throughout? That could be interesting. But yeah, Wiegraf should be like a brick wall for most single-character challenges. Monk might be able to manage him, maybe Thief. Ninja and Dragoon too if their weapons are available that early (pretty sure they are).

Yea, the general rules the community used was unlock class by Dorter trade city, all skills from a single class so reaction/movement. Some of the classes are surprisingly easy, see chemist and auto potion + guns. I was also amazed how easy oracle was because 4 Drain life kills anything so all those assassination maps/zodiac fights are much easier... random battles with sticks however lol

Rajaah · Nov 15, 2022

Indyocracy said:
Yea, the general rules the community used was unlock class by Dorter trade city, all skills from a single class so reaction/movement. Some of the classes are surprisingly easy, see chemist and auto potion + guns. I was also amazed how easy oracle was because 4 Drain life kills anything so all those assassination maps/zodiac fights are much easier... random battles with sticks however lol

Yea, the general rules the community used was unlock class by Dorter trade city, all skills from a single class

Sounds interesting for my next time through.

5x Squire - This would be easy to gimp, just run around Shouting and Tailwinding. Not much appeal

5x Chemist - Guns + Auto-Potion is pretty OP and I could see these fights being on the redundant side.

5x Monk - Here's where it gets interesting, five monks running around obliterating everybody with monk attacks sounds fun.

5x Black Mage - This could be fun to look at, but redundant.

5x White Mage - This one's appealing since I've never done anything like it, but they don't have any real attacks until they level up a LOT, so...IDK?

5x Oracle - This could be really interesting and require some outside the box thinking.

5x Thief - Seems underpowered, might be interesting as a challenge.

5x Archer - Bland, the class itself is bland though. I never could get charge attacks to land on anything.

5x Knight - If I had to pick one I think I'd go with this. I bet there's a lot you can pull off with weapon breaks etc. Also it'd be fun to deck out 5 tanks with the best heavy armor.

Any other interesting ones you can get before Dorter without it taking ages?

Indyocracy · Nov 15, 2022

Rajaah said:
Sounds interesting for my next time through.

5x Squire - This would be easy to gimp, just run around Shouting and Tailwinding. Not much appeal

5x Chemist - Guns + Auto-Potion is pretty OP and I could see these fights being on the redundant side.

5x Monk - Here's where it gets interesting, five monks running around obliterating everybody with monk attacks sounds fun.

5x Black Mage - This could be fun to look at, but redundant.

5x White Mage - This one's appealing since I've never done anything like it, but they don't have any real attacks until they level up a LOT, so...IDK?

5x Oracle - This could be really interesting and require some outside the box thinking.

5x Thief - Seems underpowered, might be interesting as a challenge.

5x Archer - Bland, the class itself is bland though. I never could get charge attacks to land on anything.

5x Knight - If I had to pick one I think I'd go with this. I bet there's a lot you can pull off with weapon breaks etc. Also it'd be fun to deck out 5 tanks with the best heavy armor.

Any other interesting ones you can get before Dorter without it taking ages?

So thief is essentially a dead end at Weigraf without all crits, the solo fight is murder.

Knights are fun, ice shield healing mid game helps a lot.
Geomancer is a very friendly one to start with, great equips and elemental is good
Monks are good because revive, chakra, and late game earth clothes allow you to heal with earth wave as well.
All the mages are doable, summoner with golem is nice

turbo · Nov 16, 2022

Oh FFT brought me countless joy when I was young but also one of the biggest disappointments of my young life. Back then I had no real access to internet/computers in the rual country side that I grew up at..can't remember if it was magazine or where I heard about FFT but I was so excited to get my hands on it . I couldn't find any info of where to get it, finally some how stumbled upon this consulate # that cost me alot of money just to call and was able to order FFT (like 3+ month ship time).

It finally came...I was working 80 hour weeks that summer every single week (was in highschool and extremely poor so had to pay for anything whatsoever I wanted outside of electricity and some basic food). I took off the only 2 days I would have off that entire summer when it arrived....I paid $120 back in what 1998'ish? for this special way to get FFT. I was SO fucking excited....

The screen turns on, the epic music starts....AND....its in fucking japense. And worse, it wouldn't let me actually play after the title screen because of some compitability with my Playstation. I called and called to that consulate place with no answer hoping there was just some minor option I could change. Days later I got the answer....FFT wasn't even out yet in North America and alas the version I was sent would not work.

24 years later that pain translated into one of the most important life lessons I still hold to. Never fucking hope for anything, then you will be prepared for the worst and appreciate things even more if they do come to frution!

Not sure how many people on this forum ever worked 80 hrs a week at 16 + trained for sports but let me tell you that one source of true enjoyment to look forward was what kept me sane haha. Fuck I was so god damn angry and mad + normal teenager rage I don't think I talked to my family for a week. I just wanted to build some damn black mages!!!!!

Unrelated, I think I won some # of free nintendo power back when I was a little kid by beating FF1 on NES with all white mages and mailing in a picture haha. Man how simple life used to be.

Rajaah · Nov 16, 2022

Thinking about FFT again, I think FFT is to Tactics Ogre as Chrono Trigger is to Final Fantasy VI.

FF Tactics and CT are streamlined, prettier, and simplified. They seem superior.

Then TO and FF6, while earlier and less streamlined, turn out to be way deeper and more engrossing, just a little rough around the edges.

Indyocracy said:
So thief is essentially a dead end at Weigraf without all crits, the solo fight is murder.

Knights are fun, ice shield healing mid game helps a lot.
Geomancer is a very friendly one to start with, great equips and elemental is good
Monks are good because revive, chakra, and late game earth clothes allow you to heal with earth wave as well.
All the mages are doable, summoner with golem is nice

Geomancer sounds like a super fun one to try. Being reliant on terrain and looking for the best tiles to attack from would put a totally new spin on the game. I think I'm gonna try that in my next FFT run.

Think I have any chance of beating Wiegraf/Velius though?

Indyocracy · Nov 16, 2022

Rajaah said:
Thinking about FFT again, I think FFT is to Tactics Ogre as Chrono Trigger is to Final Fantasy VI.

FF Tactics and CT are streamlined, prettier, and simplified. They seem superior.

Then TO and FF6, while earlier and less streamlined, turn out to be way deeper and more engrossing, just a little rough around the edges.

Geomancer sounds like a super fun one to try. Being reliant on terrain and looking for the best tiles to attack from would put a totally new spin on the game. I think I'm gonna try that in my next FFT run.

Think I have any chance of beating Wiegraf/Velius though?

Yea I think if you bring rubber shoes to negate lighting stab you should be fine since Geos have shields. I did a geo run, it is fun I did Ramza + 2 males/2females try to get faith as close to 40 as possible, if you never use magic why take extra damage =).

BunkyChutt · Nov 16, 2022

Recently played

dragon quest 9 (2D)
Fire emblem three houses (blue lions)
Triangle strategy (Benedict router)

just started octopath traveler

got a strong 2023 octopath traveler 2 and engage !

k^M · Nov 16, 2022

The wiegraff fight is a complete bitch out of nowhere because if you don't either have a ring that nulls/absorbs lightning, or rubber shoes, you die and gg. Little me nerd raged at that one quite a few times. I don't think there is a single other fight in the game that even compares either because you have other chars to revive/heal/whatever, or because you know its coming.

Rajaah · Nov 16, 2022

k^M said:
The wiegraff fight is a complete bitch out of nowhere because if you don't either have a ring that nulls/absorbs lightning, or rubber shoes, you die and gg. Little me nerd raged at that one quite a few times. I don't think there is a single other fight in the game that even compares either because you have other chars to revive/heal/whatever, or because you know its coming.

Them putting a no-return save point right before that fight is the problem, as has been said...one of the stupidest design blunders in an otherwise-great game that I've ever seen.

No-return save points are probably the single biggest design misstep in a lot of otherwise-great RPGs, especially back in the day.

I think the recent Romancing SaGa 2 remake lets you save right before the final boss...which is like 5x harder than anything before it. Then when you inevitably lose and try to leave to go power up more, the game is like "lol you can't leave the room lol". It's so stupid. Why do that? Makes no logical sense that Nothing is preventing your character from going through a door.

Indyocracy said:
Yea I think if you bring rubber shoes to negate lighting stab you should be fine since Geos have shields. I did a geo run, it is fun I did Ramza + 2 males/2females try to get faith as close to 40 as possible, if you never use magic why take extra damage =).

I never even thought about Rubber Shoes. I guess Lightning Stab is pure lightning element, not a physical attack like I figured? I didn't think any of those OP sword-skills were elemental.

This'll make my next run of the game way easier, I'll just bring Rubber Shoes. I'm gonna try a Geomancer-only run some time soon. Probably could today since I'm laid up with The Vid, if I can work up the energy for it. More likely it'll have to wait until after I catch up on all the things I'm backed up on needing to get done because of this flu.

Also glad you mentioned Geomancers not using Faith. I would have figured their geomancy attacks were magic-based. So I should get Faith as low as possible on everyone and Brave as high as possible, right? Since a lot of damage is gonna come from sword-swinging. I'll try to recruit characters with those stats because I imagine it's a PITA to adjust stats during the game.

Ramza doesn't get Steel until Chapter 2, so I'm probably gonna have to grind up a few Orators at the beginning of the game just to stat-boost, then switch to the melee classes needed to build up Geomancers. I can try to do all this before Dorter, but IDK. Might be simpler to just say "have all your ducks in order by Chapter 2 and never class change from that point on".

Kriptini · Nov 16, 2022

k^M said:
I don't think there is a single other fight in the game that even compares either because you have other chars to revive/heal/whatever, or because you know its coming.

Gaffgarion fight can be a big chokepoint as well because even though you have other units on the map, none of them can reach Ramza and Gaffgarion. I don't think there's a save right before that battle, though.

Indyocracy · Nov 16, 2022

Rajaah said:
Also glad you mentioned Geomancers not using Faith. I would have figured their geomancy attacks were magic-based. So I should get Faith as low as possible on everyone and Brave as high as possible, right? Since a lot of damage is gonna come from sword-swinging. I'll try to recruit characters with those stats because I imagine it's a PITA to adjust stats during the game.

Yea, so physicals are all PA and males have higher growth and more hp, elemental uses MA and females have higher growth. Only actual spells calculate faith so when you recruit in shop just keep rerolling for 40faith 70brave and then never touch it again. Its overkill to go to 3 faith or 90+ brave

Indyocracy · Nov 16, 2022

Kriptini said:
Gaffgarion fight can be a big chokepoint as well because even though you have other units on the map, none of them can reach Ramza and Gaffgarion. I don't think there's a save right before that battle, though.

There is a switch Ramza can hit right? Been a decade

Rezz · Nov 16, 2022

Indyocracy said:
Yea, so physicals are all PA and males have higher growth and more hp, elemental uses MA and females have higher growth. Only actual spells calculate faith so when you recruit in shop just keep rerolling for 40faith 70brave and then never touch it again. Its overkill to go to 3 faith or 90+ brave

It's been awhile since I've played, but there's also a general "drift" of Faith/Brave between fights if you raise/lower them. Ramza starts like dead middle I believe, but if you keep him melee and doing accumulate/shout spam/etc, eventually he ends up with incredibly low faith and incredibly high brave. Will have to pick it up again and see if I'm not just completely misremembering, but I definitely remember that being a thing and also super useful in priming certain characters for specific classes. It may not have applied to other characters, but I definitely recall it being a thing with Ramza.

Indyocracy · Nov 16, 2022

Rezz said:
It's been awhile since I've played, but there's also a general "drift" of Faith/Brave between fights if you raise/lower them. Ramza starts like dead middle I believe, but if you keep him melee and doing accumulate/shout spam/etc, eventually he ends up with incredibly low faith and incredibly high brave. Will have to pick it up again and see if I'm not just completely misremembering, but I definitely remember that being a thing and also super useful in priming certain characters for specific classes. It may not have applied to other characters, but I definitely recall it being a thing with Ramza.

I think the mechanic is for every 4 points up or down in a fight you gain or lose 1 permanently, so I think the max is 3/97. Some story decisions like helping Algus ect change your brave

Arbitrary · Nov 16, 2022

At the end of each encounter you gain permanent modifiers to your faith and bravery based on how much they changed during the fight. For every four points one was increased or decreased you get one permanent point. With Ramza it's super easy for him to always be rocking 97 bravery as he's got multiple buffs that jack it up. It's really, really easy to tank someone's faith with a Mediator. Solution drops a target's faith by 20 which translates in to 5 permanent. You can nuke everyone down really low really quickly. Using a Mediator to increase scores is way slower as the same abilities only increase faith and bravery by a much smaller amount. Ramza is usually your guy for jacking up people's bravery.

Too much faith or too little bravery for a couple of fights and people will leave the party permanently.

Rajaah · Nov 16, 2022

Indyocracy said:
Yea, so physicals are all PA and males have higher growth and more hp, elemental uses MA and females have higher growth. Only actual spells calculate faith so when you recruit in shop just keep rerolling for 40faith 70brave and then never touch it again. Its overkill to go to 3 faith or 90+ brave

Yeah I might just reroll until I get four 40/70 characters and then stick with those. Would get to Geomancer way faster. If I grinded out an Orator to adjust people's stats down, that'd probably add like 2 hours to my setup time. Not sure if it'd be worth it to get people at, say, 10 Faith versus 40. I don't expect this class challenge to go the distance anyway, it's more about seeing how far I can get.

...probably Riovanes like every other one

I can also see it being a total hassle not being able to use items, because when a character falls in a battle I'll need to either reset the game or win in two turns. Maybe I'll give everyone Phoenix Down to avoid death emergencies, and leave that as the sole secondary ability. Won't change anything from Dorter onward or so.

Looks like choosing to save Algus results in less immediate Bravery bonus and more later. Also choosing to fight the goblins instead of saving Boco is another early Bravery bump.

Indyocracy · Nov 16, 2022

Rajaah said:
Yeah I might just reroll until I get four 40/70 characters and then stick with those. Would get to Geomancer way faster. If I grinded out an Orator to adjust people's stats down, that'd probably add like 2 hours to my setup time. Not sure if it'd be worth it to get people at, say, 10 Faith versus 40. I don't expect this class challenge to go the distance anyway, it's more about seeing how far I can get.

...probably Riovanes like every other one

I can also see it being a total hassle not being able to use items, because when a character falls in a battle I'll need to either reset the game or win in two turns. Maybe I'll give everyone Phoenix Down to avoid death emergencies, and leave that as the sole secondary ability. Won't change anything from Dorter onward or so.

Looks like choosing to save Algus results in less immediate Bravery bonus and more later. Also choosing to fight the goblins instead of saving Boco is another early Bravery bump.

You'll be surprised, just remember icebrand + ice shield comes in eventually then you have free healing from behind. 108 gems also ramps up the damage from elemental!

Rajaah · Nov 17, 2022

Took 2-3 hours, but I got to Dorter with Geomancer unlocked for everyone. The annoying thing was, because of the 4 character limit for the early fights, I always had to leave one person behind, so my characters were uneven and one of them ended up being like 2 battles behind everyone else on the Geomancer acquisition. So I had to grind random fights for a bit.

Next time I play, I'll start the challenge itself by switching over to Geomancers and starting Dorter.

Pancreas · Nov 17, 2022

My last playthrough of FFT was quite a while ago, but I remember doing everything and getting every unique character and item.

There were lots of ways to break that game.

Using the mediator class to use brave up on characters until they were at 99 brave would permanently raise their base brave level by a small amount after each fight with diminishing returns.

Also having a low faith level reduces incoming magic damage.

A character with blade grasp, high brave and low faith is very tough to kill.

using the accumulate skill over and over will power level a group pretty quick. You can set up in some of the early maps to create infinite skill point farms and only stopping to switch classes.

Summons casting time are based on character speed. I had high level Cloud in the SOLDIER class with all the best +speed gear/haste and he could pull off 1 and 2 round zodiac summons.

Capturing and breeding rare monsters and then auctioning them will give access to some really great gear.

The fight where you recruit the robot has two pillars that if you stand on top of with move find item give the best spear and shield. Also recruit one hydra since that's the only place to get them.

Every trap in the optional last dungeon has treasure in it when using move find item. Most of which are the best in slot.

The catch skill can be used in battles with high level ninjas to catch rare high level weapons when they use the throw item skill.

You can duplicate weapons when equipped with a shield in your main hand and the dual wield skill. Go into a shop and use the auto equip feature. Your weapon swaps to your main hand and you get a duplicate in the other.

Orlandu was like the only character that could duplicate samurai swords. Which is great if you actually wanted to use the sword spirit abilities for the unique samurai swords without worrying about them breaking.

Getting Ultima on ramza requires a combination of equipment/accessories to counter all the other status effects the two assassins are using to force them to cast the spell, and you have to be in his unique squire class.

Dual wielding applies to monks and allows them to punch twice. Great early game damage.

Tons of other stuff but that's a lot of the most broken.

JRPGs

Honorable Member

Stock Pals Participant

Honorable Member

Stock Pals Participant

Molten Core Raider

Honorable Member

Stock Pals Participant

Poet Warrior

Blackwing Lair Raider

Honorable Member

Vyemm Raider

Stock Pals Participant

Stock Pals Participant

Mr. Poopybutthole

Stock Pals Participant

Tranny Chaser

Honorable Member

Stock Pals Participant

Honorable Member

Vyemm Raider