Summary: A little bit of random missions. Dispatch strategy. Initial thoughts on FFTA jobs.
Random Missions, Combat, Rumors
-Now there are three laws. Ugh.
-I found the worst possible law ever: “Dmg2: Animals.” It doesn’t let me do ANY DAMAGE TO ENEMIES WTFFFFFF! At least it’s a two-way street.
-Phew. This came up again later, and it only applies to beast enemies, not humanoid enemies.
-A combo I really like is hitting an enemy with Death Sickle from Sniper (Doom counter basically) and then Sheep Count/Sleep.
A peaceful way to go.
-Clan Borzoi’s boss, Gukko, showed up! The mission is “Borzoi Falling.”
-And… I did it. I beat Clan Borzoi. That’s really cool that these side missions have full story arcs to them.
-Some of these weapons I’m getting are super sweet. Like Excalibur and Kain’s Lance. Oddly enough, Kain’s Lance is a Templar weapon rather than a dragoon weapon. Unintentional FFIV: The After Years reference?
-Juggler has a hilarious reactive ability called “Return Fire.” It makes Juggler!Montblanc catch an arrow tossed his way and throw it back at the attacker.
-Hooooly crow I got a weapon called Nosada that teaches Ninjas to use Double Sword… for 999 AP.
-Break is one of my favorite abilities. Instant kill with a high hit chance.
-Perseus reference!
An Aegis Shield is shaped like Medusa’s head, protects against petrify, and has some Medusa-esque lore.
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Dispatch
-Over the past few sessions I found myself in a pickle. My dispatch missions where I sent my other clanmates out were failing consistently.
I know about the preview of a mission’s success, where you see if a clan member’s icon cheers or kneels, but more and more my party members were previewed as neutral or failing, or the missions required jobs the extra clan members beyond my core six just didn’t have.
I was getting frustrated.
-But I also noticed I was obliterating random encounters. My average clan level is fairly low because I accept a lot of new clan members. My core party is around 17-18 but most of my non-core clan members are 9-11. Many enemies I encounter then are around level 11.
So I’m trying something: using my core party members for dispatch missions. I held off from this because so many dispatch missions require me to kill enemies or win battles to complete. However, my core party is high enough that going into random fights with only 4 rather than the full 6 seems reasonable, and has had me ripping through these missions!
-I’m concerned about this method. My core party has stopped leveling up due to average enemy level being lower. I’m worried when I pick up with the story missions that I’ll find myself fallen behind.
But not that worried. If that happens, I could dismiss some of my crappier clan members and level up.
[Non-rhetorical question: what determines the level of clan members who offer to join?]
-Now there are three laws. Ugh.
-I found the worst possible law ever: “Dmg2: Animals.” It doesn’t let me do ANY DAMAGE TO ENEMIES WTFFFFFF! At least it’s a two-way street.
-Phew. This came up again later, and it only applies to beast enemies, not humanoid enemies.
-A combo I really like is hitting an enemy with Death Sickle from Sniper (Doom counter basically) and then Sheep Count/Sleep.
A peaceful way to go.
-Clan Borzoi’s boss, Gukko, showed up! The mission is “Borzoi Falling.”
-And… I did it. I beat Clan Borzoi. That’s really cool that these side missions have full story arcs to them.
-Some of these weapons I’m getting are super sweet. Like Excalibur and Kain’s Lance. Oddly enough, Kain’s Lance is a Templar weapon rather than a dragoon weapon. Unintentional FFIV: The After Years reference?
-Juggler has a hilarious reactive ability called “Return Fire.” It makes Juggler!Montblanc catch an arrow tossed his way and throw it back at the attacker.
-Hooooly crow I got a weapon called Nosada that teaches Ninjas to use Double Sword… for 999 AP.
-Break is one of my favorite abilities. Instant kill with a high hit chance.
-Perseus reference!
An Aegis Shield is shaped like Medusa’s head, protects against petrify, and has some Medusa-esque lore.
---
Dispatch
-Over the past few sessions I found myself in a pickle. My dispatch missions where I sent my other clanmates out were failing consistently.
I know about the preview of a mission’s success, where you see if a clan member’s icon cheers or kneels, but more and more my party members were previewed as neutral or failing, or the missions required jobs the extra clan members beyond my core six just didn’t have.
I was getting frustrated.
-But I also noticed I was obliterating random encounters. My average clan level is fairly low because I accept a lot of new clan members. My core party is around 17-18 but most of my non-core clan members are 9-11. Many enemies I encounter then are around level 11.
So I’m trying something: using my core party members for dispatch missions. I held off from this because so many dispatch missions require me to kill enemies or win battles to complete. However, my core party is high enough that going into random fights with only 4 rather than the full 6 seems reasonable, and has had me ripping through these missions!
-I’m concerned about this method. My core party has stopped leveling up due to average enemy level being lower. I’m worried when I pick up with the story missions that I’ll find myself fallen behind.
But not that worried. If that happens, I could dismiss some of my crappier clan members and level up.
[Non-rhetorical question: what determines the level of clan members who offer to join?]
---
Some Initial Job Thoughts
I haven’t unlocked many jobs, and many jobs I’m probably either misusing or have an incomplete view on. For example, I think the soldier job isn’t good and I’m certain that someone reading this will be like “OMG BUT IT HAS THAT GAME BREAKING ABILITY YOU FOOL!” All I can say is: you’re right, I’m sorry, these are just initial thoughts!
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Human Jobs (Marche)
I’ve explored a physical path so far. Haven’t really touched white mage, black mage, or archer. Those are next for me.
SOLDIER: Pretty weak. Some debuffs. First Aid doesn’t heal much. Shieldbearer is nice I guess, but the weapons unlocking it unlock other jobs too.
THIEF: Meh. I’m sure it’s awesome if you know what to steal. Good synergy with the soldier ability Sensor, that tells me if an enemy has stealables, but I haven’t found myself wanting to constantly try that combo on every enemy. I’ll wait until a replay to use this when a guide tells me which enemies have good stuff.
FIGHTER: Now we’re talking! I don’t like the low chance stuff like Beatdown, but Air Render is one of my most used abilities. Doublehand is great too.
PALADIN: Kind of meh? Nurse is okay. Saint Cross is probably good against undead. And Weapon Def+ is okay, but I’d mostly rather have Doublehand in that slot.
NINJA: I really dislike this job. The various veil debuff spells don’t seem strong enough, though it’s a nice support set of abilities. Double Sword looks phenomenal.
NEXT STEPS: I’ve been debating whether or not to stick with Double Sword until I complete it (I’m 150/999 right now) or leave that for later. Not sure. Leaning switching towards the new stuff for now.
Favorite sprite: paladin.
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Nu Mou Jobs (Leo)
WHITE AND BLACK MAGE: Super strong. Suuuper strong. I mark them as a pair because both are classic and do standard stuff REALLY WELL. The removal of FFT’s cast time has really buffed the power-level, and with supportive stuff like magic ring and the white mage support ability “Turbo MP” these jobs are by far some of my most powerful.
ILLUSIONIST: Can be super strong in the right circumstances, when attacking a wide board of enemies like in random encounters.
SAGE: Gives Leo a combo. A reasonable mix of debuffs and damage, but I tend to prefer just using black mage if I’m after damage. It’s often a go-to backup for magic damage if the law forbids color magic.
BEASTMASTER: Quirky and odd ability set. Nice crowd control in a vacuum, but the jury’s out because I haven’t yet unlocked blue mage. They synched nicely in FFV and may again here.
MORPHER: Idk yet. Haven’t unlocked Capture.
NEXT STEPS: I’ve started alchemist. Will explore time mage after that.
Favorite sprites: alchemist.
Some Initial Job Thoughts
I haven’t unlocked many jobs, and many jobs I’m probably either misusing or have an incomplete view on. For example, I think the soldier job isn’t good and I’m certain that someone reading this will be like “OMG BUT IT HAS THAT GAME BREAKING ABILITY YOU FOOL!” All I can say is: you’re right, I’m sorry, these are just initial thoughts!
---
Human Jobs (Marche)
I’ve explored a physical path so far. Haven’t really touched white mage, black mage, or archer. Those are next for me.
SOLDIER: Pretty weak. Some debuffs. First Aid doesn’t heal much. Shieldbearer is nice I guess, but the weapons unlocking it unlock other jobs too.
THIEF: Meh. I’m sure it’s awesome if you know what to steal. Good synergy with the soldier ability Sensor, that tells me if an enemy has stealables, but I haven’t found myself wanting to constantly try that combo on every enemy. I’ll wait until a replay to use this when a guide tells me which enemies have good stuff.
FIGHTER: Now we’re talking! I don’t like the low chance stuff like Beatdown, but Air Render is one of my most used abilities. Doublehand is great too.
PALADIN: Kind of meh? Nurse is okay. Saint Cross is probably good against undead. And Weapon Def+ is okay, but I’d mostly rather have Doublehand in that slot.
NINJA: I really dislike this job. The various veil debuff spells don’t seem strong enough, though it’s a nice support set of abilities. Double Sword looks phenomenal.
NEXT STEPS: I’ve been debating whether or not to stick with Double Sword until I complete it (I’m 150/999 right now) or leave that for later. Not sure. Leaning switching towards the new stuff for now.
Favorite sprite: paladin.
---
Nu Mou Jobs (Leo)
WHITE AND BLACK MAGE: Super strong. Suuuper strong. I mark them as a pair because both are classic and do standard stuff REALLY WELL. The removal of FFT’s cast time has really buffed the power-level, and with supportive stuff like magic ring and the white mage support ability “Turbo MP” these jobs are by far some of my most powerful.
ILLUSIONIST: Can be super strong in the right circumstances, when attacking a wide board of enemies like in random encounters.
SAGE: Gives Leo a combo. A reasonable mix of debuffs and damage, but I tend to prefer just using black mage if I’m after damage. It’s often a go-to backup for magic damage if the law forbids color magic.
BEASTMASTER: Quirky and odd ability set. Nice crowd control in a vacuum, but the jury’s out because I haven’t yet unlocked blue mage. They synched nicely in FFV and may again here.
MORPHER: Idk yet. Haven’t unlocked Capture.
NEXT STEPS: I’ve started alchemist. Will explore time mage after that.
Favorite sprites: alchemist.
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Viera Jobs (Milly)
FENCER: Strong physical damage. The ranged Nighthawk attack gives it a ton of flexibility. I use this often.
RED MAGE: A good jack-of-all-trades. Crowd control with sleep, light curing (and not just self-only like so many abilities in FFTA), and Barrier to buff. My only regret is that I don’t come across ninjas enough to use Catch. The idea of an enemy chucking a weapon at me that Milly catches and puts in her backpack is hilarious.
ELEMENTALIST: The biggest problem with Red Mage is that it isn’t Elementalist. White Flame heals, Fire Whip disables, and it also includes darkness, confuse, and immobilize options. Really strong.
ARCHER: Strong damage and crowd control. Burial is phenomenal against undead, though undead have been somewhere rare until now. Block Arrows is one of my most commonly-used support abilities.
SNIPER: Surprisingly meh. Doubleshot could be okay. Death Sickle is my favorite ability in this group, setting the doom counter on something, crowd controlling it, and ignoring it.
NEXT STEPS: I unlocked assassin and will probably try that. I’m optimistic because it is pretty far down the tech tree, unlocked by sniper and elementalist. After that, I’ll backtrack, get some white mage abilities and see if that unlocks something.
Favorite sprites: red mage, sniper.
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Moogle Jobs (Montblanc)
MOG KNIGHT: It’s okay?
GUNNER: Low damage but nice crowd control options in blind, confuse, charm. I don’t use this much.
JUGGLER: I don’t know. Dagger is fantastic, damage + disable. Firebomb has potential, inducing berserk, if I’m against mages. Return Fire may be the best.
ANIMIST: YES. I love this job’s kit. Cuisine is a full heal, and the ability to frog or sleep things or berserk is great. I have a hard time thinking when I’d use juggler over animist with what I’ve seen so far.
NEXT STEPS: Starting to work on Gadgeteer. I’m not optimistic.
The first ability I’m working on, Silver Disc, sounds RNG.
Favorite sprites: juggler, gadgeteer, gunner. I really love the mog job sprites.
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Bangaa Jobs (Matias)
I regret having two of these as core party members. The bangaa jobs are not my favorite. Specifically the physical track. I hope I get a new core party member soon cause it’s been thirty hours of played time and STILL Montblanc and Marche are my only main party members.
Viera and human jobs seem better. *elbows Shara and Ritz to join up sooner rather than later plz ty*
Let’s start on a higher note with Matias’s path.
WHITE MONK: One of my favorite jobs. It lacks the raw power that FFT’s monk had, but keeps the utility. Whirlwind and Air Render are both good damaging abilities, Exorcise works as a niche against undead, Holy Sign dispels (this I use rarely), Revie and Chakra are outstanding support. Counter is easily my best reactive ability thus far.
I have a hard time imagining that there’ll be a time when I don’t have the white monk abilities equipped, law-permitting.
Viera Jobs (Milly)
FENCER: Strong physical damage. The ranged Nighthawk attack gives it a ton of flexibility. I use this often.
RED MAGE: A good jack-of-all-trades. Crowd control with sleep, light curing (and not just self-only like so many abilities in FFTA), and Barrier to buff. My only regret is that I don’t come across ninjas enough to use Catch. The idea of an enemy chucking a weapon at me that Milly catches and puts in her backpack is hilarious.
ELEMENTALIST: The biggest problem with Red Mage is that it isn’t Elementalist. White Flame heals, Fire Whip disables, and it also includes darkness, confuse, and immobilize options. Really strong.
ARCHER: Strong damage and crowd control. Burial is phenomenal against undead, though undead have been somewhere rare until now. Block Arrows is one of my most commonly-used support abilities.
SNIPER: Surprisingly meh. Doubleshot could be okay. Death Sickle is my favorite ability in this group, setting the doom counter on something, crowd controlling it, and ignoring it.
NEXT STEPS: I unlocked assassin and will probably try that. I’m optimistic because it is pretty far down the tech tree, unlocked by sniper and elementalist. After that, I’ll backtrack, get some white mage abilities and see if that unlocks something.
Favorite sprites: red mage, sniper.
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Moogle Jobs (Montblanc)
MOG KNIGHT: It’s okay?
GUNNER: Low damage but nice crowd control options in blind, confuse, charm. I don’t use this much.
JUGGLER: I don’t know. Dagger is fantastic, damage + disable. Firebomb has potential, inducing berserk, if I’m against mages. Return Fire may be the best.
ANIMIST: YES. I love this job’s kit. Cuisine is a full heal, and the ability to frog or sleep things or berserk is great. I have a hard time thinking when I’d use juggler over animist with what I’ve seen so far.
NEXT STEPS: Starting to work on Gadgeteer. I’m not optimistic.
The first ability I’m working on, Silver Disc, sounds RNG.
Favorite sprites: juggler, gadgeteer, gunner. I really love the mog job sprites.
---
Bangaa Jobs (Matias)
I regret having two of these as core party members. The bangaa jobs are not my favorite. Specifically the physical track. I hope I get a new core party member soon cause it’s been thirty hours of played time and STILL Montblanc and Marche are my only main party members.
Viera and human jobs seem better. *elbows Shara and Ritz to join up sooner rather than later plz ty*
Let’s start on a higher note with Matias’s path.
WHITE MONK: One of my favorite jobs. It lacks the raw power that FFT’s monk had, but keeps the utility. Whirlwind and Air Render are both good damaging abilities, Exorcise works as a niche against undead, Holy Sign dispels (this I use rarely), Revie and Chakra are outstanding support. Counter is easily my best reactive ability thus far.
I have a hard time imagining that there’ll be a time when I don’t have the white monk abilities equipped, law-permitting.
BISHOP: Another strong one. Return magic seems good in theory though
counter is my default option. Cura, Dispel, Barrier are all good
supports. Break is my surprise all-star.
60-70% chance to one-shot an enemy if I position right? Yes please.
TEMPLAR: It’s… okay? Most of its abilities seem reasonable but not quite good enough. Like, Warcry debuffs enemy speed. Soul Sphere hits enemy MP. I’d rather just do damage usually. Haste is great though.
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Bangaa Jobs (Higgins)
WARRIOR: Meh. Body Slam is pretty good. I like the powerful self-damaging abilities in FFTA, like this or Backdraft.
The next three jobs were opened up by warrior. They’re not bad exactly. They’ve got some utility and damage. They’re just so slow. No ranged abilities at all means most of Higgins’ moves in a fight are plodding up to fast enemies and watching the fight from afar.
DRAGOON: Dragon-specific stuff like wyrmtamer/wyrmkiller. Jump has some range if I’m using a spear. The breath abilities are neat, some short-range magic damage.
DEFENDER: This job seems like it’s one ability shy of good. Defense and crowd control, but if enemies just ignore Higgins and he can’t reach them in time, it feels sort of like a waste. If only there were taunt or pull, I’d like this.
GLADIATOR: I’ve just started working on this. Doublehand is great. Fire and Ice Sword seem okay.
NEXT STEPS: Maybe I just need some internal cross-pollination. I think I’m next gonna have Higgins grab White Monk for ranged and utility as I keep building the tankier bangaa jobs up.
Favorite sprites: dragoon and templar.
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Locked Jobs
Surprisingly enough, I’ve unlocked most of the jobs at this point!
At least, assuming the job chart is showing me everything. FFT:WOTL iirc had plenty of jobs it hid from that sort of in-game chart.
There are three jobs I have yet to unlock, but I have a sense of how I might reach them:
Hunter (human): maybe some post-archer advanced job.
Summoner (viera): Mix of… idk, white mage and red mage?
Blue Mage (human): This I’m less certain on. Human has so many options. But black and white mage have gotta be part of that. Maybe archer too, idk, but I’ll try unlocking a few white and black mage abilities first.
---
Next time: Continuing to focus on the side mission (really enjoying those and building up my party!) but also some main quest progression.
60-70% chance to one-shot an enemy if I position right? Yes please.
TEMPLAR: It’s… okay? Most of its abilities seem reasonable but not quite good enough. Like, Warcry debuffs enemy speed. Soul Sphere hits enemy MP. I’d rather just do damage usually. Haste is great though.
---
Bangaa Jobs (Higgins)
WARRIOR: Meh. Body Slam is pretty good. I like the powerful self-damaging abilities in FFTA, like this or Backdraft.
The next three jobs were opened up by warrior. They’re not bad exactly. They’ve got some utility and damage. They’re just so slow. No ranged abilities at all means most of Higgins’ moves in a fight are plodding up to fast enemies and watching the fight from afar.
DRAGOON: Dragon-specific stuff like wyrmtamer/wyrmkiller. Jump has some range if I’m using a spear. The breath abilities are neat, some short-range magic damage.
DEFENDER: This job seems like it’s one ability shy of good. Defense and crowd control, but if enemies just ignore Higgins and he can’t reach them in time, it feels sort of like a waste. If only there were taunt or pull, I’d like this.
GLADIATOR: I’ve just started working on this. Doublehand is great. Fire and Ice Sword seem okay.
NEXT STEPS: Maybe I just need some internal cross-pollination. I think I’m next gonna have Higgins grab White Monk for ranged and utility as I keep building the tankier bangaa jobs up.
Favorite sprites: dragoon and templar.
---
Locked Jobs
Surprisingly enough, I’ve unlocked most of the jobs at this point!
At least, assuming the job chart is showing me everything. FFT:WOTL iirc had plenty of jobs it hid from that sort of in-game chart.
There are three jobs I have yet to unlock, but I have a sense of how I might reach them:
Hunter (human): maybe some post-archer advanced job.
Summoner (viera): Mix of… idk, white mage and red mage?
Blue Mage (human): This I’m less certain on. Human has so many options. But black and white mage have gotta be part of that. Maybe archer too, idk, but I’ll try unlocking a few white and black mage abilities first.
---
Next time: Continuing to focus on the side mission (really enjoying those and building up my party!) but also some main quest progression.
