TW: brief hinting at sexual assault. Maybe? I might have misread something.
Party Paring
-I KNOW I KNOW, I just did this. But…
I’m still spending more time leveling than I’d like, and I want to cut it down. So I’m gonna go all the way and pare down to five active characters. The rest will be errand-runners. And if I get new named characters, I’ll either keep them benched or swap them in.
-Equipment costs keep going up; paring will make it easier to keep the party geared.
-I also might change my mind! If I get any more new party members that add something unique, I could decide to level them up as sixth/seventh characters. (But I’ll try to avoid this.)
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Active Characters
Ramza: Physical damage supplemented with his super squire abilities. Leaning towards keeping monk for the tougher battles – I really like monk! – but try out stuff like dragoon.
Agrias: Build around her Holy Sword. The secondary stuff should be support abilities that heal or buff. Even better if they don’t require faith.
Millicent: She’s currently a chemist, working on time mage. I’m fine with chemist as primary healer. This is the first FF game where I don’t really like white mage. When I get some more time mage stuff, I’ll work on white mage too for some aoe heals in her toolbelt.
[Later edit: I checked further down the Time Mage list, and I really like that she can get Graviga and Meteor for extra punch without having to go for black mage!]
Randwulf: Tons of black magick and some summoner stuff (Golem, Moogle, and just got Salamander). Keep building up summoner, but not just the damaging stuff. I like the flexibility the job gives.
-HOHOHO!!!! AM I READING THIS RIGHT, THAT THE SUMMONS CAN’T CAUSE FRIENDLY FIRE FOR DAMAGE (or hit enemies with heals)? That makes the job SO MUCH BETTER THAN I THOUGHT!
Considering whether to keep his magick damage buff or go instead for the half-charge time from Time Mage. That could be really useful with the super slow stuff like Flare and summons.
Mustadio: Aimed Shot is wonderful crowd control. I’ll build support options like chemist and orator onto him, and damaging options like archer. Keep him at range.
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To the Bench!
Luso: His special set is just too similar to Ramza.
Lauda: This one hurts. She’s my dragoon. I sunk a ton of JP into her, and I LOVE dragoon. I just think I can probably build this toolset into Ramza and Agrias.
Eadbert: He was my archer. I’ll build that into Mustadio.
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Around the World
-I UNLOCKED NINJA HOLY LORD I FINALLY DID IT! It took Archer level 4, Thief level 5, Geomancer level 2. No wonder I had a hard time with it – two separate trees.
That’s tricksy, game. There’s probably jobs out there that need, like, level 5 black mage and level 4 ninja or stuff like that. I’ll bet bard is like this. Current guess: it requires thief and orator. Bards have typically been used as sneaky spies, and they speak/sing well, so sort of would make sense.
-Ninjas innately dual wield, which is awesome. They can throw stuff, which is… okay? I’m usually reluctant to use consumables, but I’ll try it out and see how it goes.
-I also unlocked Onion Knight.
It seems like the kind of job that works great when you master a bunch of stuff but I doubt I’ll get there on this run.
-I got a bunch of Jade Armlets and Japa Malas, the accessories I was trying for.
We’re coming, Alma!
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Grogh Heights
-We come across Southern Sky Deserters. They don’t want to fight, but they’re convinced if they walk away we’ll track them down.
-lol nm. They turn hostile. They recognize me from a wanted poster. Capturing Ramza could be their ticket out of a life of exile.
-They go down pretty quickly. They all have low level jobs. An archer, some squires, some chemists. It’s a feel-bad win.
-Ramza feels guilty afterwards. What would his father had done?
-More party members come. It’s… Orran? He’s the guy we met before on the rooftop, the astrologian. Knights flank him.
-Orran with Goltanna’s Order of the Southern Sky. They were chasing the deserters we just took out.
-Orran seems like a decent guy. Not bloodthirsty like the dude from the beginning whose name is sort of slipping my mind.
[Later edit: I checked my notes. It’s Argath.] That guy relished the murdery parts of his duties. Orran’s not the same.
-Yaaaaay for Orran! He knows Ramza’s a heretic, but his direct orders are to retrieve deserters. We’re not part of his direct orders, so he’s not obligated to go after us.
-Before we leave, Ramza tries passing that same message up Orran’s chain of command. That there’s someone manipulating the dukes.
-Ramza wants the message specifically to go to a man named Count Orlandeau, who his dad called trustworthy. I don’t remember hearing the name before, but I have a bad memory.
-Convenient! Orran is the count’s adopted son. We officially have an advocate of peace on Team Goltanna. (Two I suppose, since Cidolfus is also pro-peace.)
-WAIT IT JUST HIT ME – CIDOLFUS IS CIDOLFUS ORLANDEAU and I am officially a dunkus. Jeez.
-See ya down the line, Orran.
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Yardrow Armory
-A woman named Rapha and an outland mage are here. They’re arguing.
WOMAN: “He uses us, Marach! We are instruments of murder to him, naught more!”
The Grand Duke Barrington, their adoptive father, has been using them, and she’s done.
-He raised them as weapons. Dresden Files fans probably know what I’m thinking of.
-The Grand Duke set fire to their village just to manipulate them into a filial debt. Ice cold.
RAPHA: “You know of the… the thing he did to me.” Uhhhhhh. Is this… is this talking about what I think it’s talking about? Jesus Christ.
-A group of ninjas come out to support Marach in taking Ramza the heretic out. Rapha joins me. Yay new guest/party member!
-Ramza recognizes Marach as the guy from Dorter. He must be the guy who told me to bring the tome.
-Marach’s job is netherseer. He uses “Hell’s Wrath.” Not sure what it did. Rapha is a skyseer.
-I defeat Marach. He flees. He’s devout and angry, shocked that the gods favored a heretic over him.
-Dual wield seems fine but it’s not blowing my mind. Strong side of balanced.
-Rapha has an awesome sprite.
-Afterwards, she tells me of Grand Duke Barrington’s ambitions to rule Ivalice. His nickname is King of the Forge.
Maybe this Grand Duke will be like the old King of Limberry who summoned a demon that got out of control in his lust for power.
-OKAY RAPHA IS BEST CHARACTER
Ramza trotted out the “I fight for my name! Honooooorrrr!” line yet again. She (kindly) refutes it.
She sees nobler intentions there than simply protecting his family’s name.
-Barrington is a real keeper. He created orphanages for the sake of raising assassins. The ninjas supporting
-She and her brother are Galthenas. They’re keepers of a sacred art. They are conduits – she of the heavens, he of the nether. I wonder if the nether is demonland.
-hahahahaha - Marach’s voice busts in, the music gets intense… and a lil baby froggy hops in to deliver Marach’s message of threats and doom.
AND THE FROG EXPLODES AFTER THE MESSAGE IS DELIVERED XD XD XD
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Next time: Continuing the push to Alma.
