Around the World
-I found a new ancient wonder: “Eureka, the Forbidden Land.”
-Eureka was once the capital of the Kashka Dynasty. Now a necrohol. Back in FF3, Eureka was a dark dimension where the most legendary weapons could be found at endgame.
-Good lord, the Jump ability on Dragoon has RIDICULOUS RANGE!
I can Jump attack across the whole frigging map.
-I’m playing around with Orator, and it seems like some of its buffs might be permanent. Is that the case? It specifically looks like 50%. I raised one character’s faith +4 in combat that started at 62, but he ended up at 64 after the fight.
-Just noticed the weapon requirements for Agrias’s Holy Sword. I should have guessed. I need a sword.
-On a similar note, I like the idea of Mustadio being able to use his gun, and Orator and Chemist can use the gun. Perhaps I’ll build those for him.
-The second frontier marathon has us discover the Fortress of Trials. The kingdom of Baron used this castle to train future members of the Red Wings.
Not only is this an FFIV reference, but also an FFI reference. That game had the Citadel of Trials, where you quested to ascend to a new job.
-Just bought Golem on my summoner. Seems like an interesting support/defensive tool. Something a summoner can use on turn 1, before the parties close the distance.
Some testing shows that it brings up a barrier absorbing damage from normal attacks.
-I want to clear as many of the errands as I can before I move on, and I seem to be getting a repeating one, the Frontier Marathon errand. I’m on my third.
-The reward is a glimpse of another wonder, and another FF staple: a Floating Castle.
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Tutorial Revisited
-I’ve spent over 60 hours in Tactics, but my first trip to the tutorial overwhelmed me. Going to revisit it with new context.
-I’ll pay more attention to Zodiac compatibility in future replays, but I don’t care enough to redo my party now.
-The game mentions that ninjas have Throw and samurai have Iaido. *cries over not getting those jobs yet* One of these days I’ll uncover them! (Or not, and that’s okay too.)
The game is explicitly cagey about job requirements. I don’t feel bad that I’m still looking.
-“Some monsters cannot enter water.” News to me!
-There are wet and dry months. Fire is weakened in strong rain while ice and lightning are strengthened. This is helpful for my black mage.
[Non-rhetorical question: is every outdoor fight in the wet season a “strong rain,” or does the wet season just increase the chances of the weather being rainy? Probably the latter.]
(I’ve seen battlefields with thunder and rain, but didn’t pay them any mind.)
-Okay, faith and bravery. This is the part I most wanted.
Faith affects offensive, recovery, and status-removal magicks. However, if faith gets “too high” (kinda vague but ok), the unit will leave the party. Glad I learned that orator can permanently impact these.
I’ll boost the faith of my primary magick users up 80 or so. I’m afraid if I go higher it might make that party member go join a convent or whatever.
I’m nervous about this. High faith makes them more susceptible to enemy mages, but it seems worth it to amplify their main power. And I can use stuff like Arcane Defense and Shell to mitigate things if necessary.
The party members to boost: Randwulf (summoner/black mage), Josephine (white mage/orator or mystic), Millicent (chemist/time mage).
[Non-rhetorical question: does faith improve abilities like Holy Sword abilities and Martial Arts?]
-Bravery impacts the chance of reaction abilities to trigger, and attack power for unarmed and “certain weapons.”
[Non-rhetorical question: which weapons are unaffected? Just melee weapons, or also stuff like bows and staffs and books?]
-No reason not to raise bravery aside from time. I’ll prioritize emboldening:
Ramza (monk/geomancer), Lauda (dragoon/??), and Agrias, but only if bravery impacts Holy Sword abilities.
The powerful Shockwave ability hitting an enemy line. A sign of Ramza’s bravery or faith? Hm.
-I haven’t seen the Doublehand ability yet. I expected it to be a Knight ability, like it was in FFV. It’s not.
-Only four jobs have inherent abilities: chemist, monk, orator, ninja. ARGH NINJA IS DUAL WIELD, WANTTTT
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So I know I’ve spent a good chunk of time dithering about recently, and I’m sorry for that.
Wait, no I’m not! A good chunk of this game’s joy for me has come from trying to puzzle out job combos, even when not playing. It’s a similar feeling to FFV, where theorycrafting job and ability combos was its own reward.
I feel much more comfortable with my party’s path right now, with the mechanics, and how I want my party to interact with each other and develop. Returning to the story next session.
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Next time: Lesalia.
