Gaming Loving FFTA, what else should I play?

solidus5790 · Aug 13, 2020

I am 10 missions into FFTA and I am really loving this game. It is the first FFT game I have ever played. The only real complaint I have is that I am really confused about some of the systems such as skills, jobs, mastering, etc and the game doesnt seem to do too good of a job explaining all of it.. just imo. Any tips for me without spoiling? I am having a hard time understanding when I would change jobs, and if changing jobs or items causes me to lose progress I have gained with that job or item. Its all kinda confusing

Anyway... If I like this game what else would you recommend I play next? Seems like Advance Wars may be a good option? Maybe Fire Emblem?

The_Monado_Satyr · Aug 13, 2020

you may not come back from fire emblem, its became better than zelda for me

solidus5790 · Aug 13, 2020

Carmilla_Aran said:
you may not come back from fire emblem, its became better than zelda for me

Yea there are so many entries in the series too. Was thinking about giving Shadow Dragon on DS a shot as a first try. I really want games that require thoughtful combat/positioning and not just mashing attacks

The_Monado_Satyr · Aug 13, 2020

solidus5790 said:
Yea there are so many entries in the series too. Was thinking about giving Shadow Dragon on DS a shot as a first try. I really want games that require thoughtful combat/positioning and not just mashing attacks

i havent played that yet but i heard that the stat growth is ass, if you have a 3ds id recommend echos(ngl im not sure how this one compares to the others) but i just finished it id say it would be great but of how it plays i got fucked more than once

Sonic Angel Knight · Aug 13, 2020

From what I remember, each job can equip certain weapons. You need to equip a weapon with a ability and then earn ability points by fighting with it. After you earn enough, you master the weapon and can use the ability without the weapon being equipped. But you still need to make sure it's one of your jobs. (Think you can equip a second job from your main job, with the only purpose is to extend user ability in battle.) Except if you blue mage. They need to have the "Learning" ability. Then get hit by a monster using an learnable ability. (Because blue mages only use stuff that monsters do)

And if you're asking for what to play next. The next Logical step is the sequel? Or maybe try Tactics ogre, which final fantasy tactics was based on. (It's the same game play mostly with different theme or story, legacy) Of course I feel shining force is more... appealing because the plot isn't so... political as I remember final fantasy tactics war of the lions to be, or fire emblem. It's a simple plot of dark wizard of evil trying to take over the kingdom and you lead a group of heroes to victory. But if that's too boring for any of you...

BORTZ · Aug 13, 2020

FFTA is one of my favorite games of all time. Top 5 maybe higher. Ask me anything you need to know.

Some early game tips.
Watch the laws before you enter battle. my first time around I was dumb and had a team mostly comprised of humans and Bangaa. diversify your team. Use as many different classes and races as you can.
When equipping a weapon, sometimes you will get new skills that go along with them. Eventually, you will master the attached skill and it will be usable without the weapon equipped. That skill is now housed in your class. So say you master Fire as a black mage. Well you can change to any other class and set "Black Mage" as your secondary class and still use "fire" without a rod, the black mage class, while being a completely different class, like an Archer.
Switch weapons often once you have mastered the attached skills. Certain amounts of skills unlocked on a class will unlock new classes.
Watch the laws, for example don't get into a fight with wild animals and have the law be something like "Dmg2: Animal" cause uh, yeah you can't win that.
Use the laws to your benefit. they are fun in this game since the computer does its best to obey too. Eventually you will be able to manipulate the law yourself with a TGC of sorts.
You will have to look this up but some skills are straight up bugged and wont work. I think I remember Oust being one of them. Its supposed to have a <90% to remove a monster from the battlefield but its tied to the number of things you have KO'd globally or something so the number plummets to decimals faster than you can actually get a Hunter and the necessary bow to learn Oust. Something like that.

I say I love tactics games but I think I only really love FFTA.
And Front Mission. And Shining Force.

Ask me any questions you might have.

Sonic Angel Knight said:
sick ass shining force shit

I recommend Shining Force but not the GBA version. The artwork is better but from what I remember of my play through, it was so watered down compared to the more "mature" feeling Genesis/MD original.

Sonic Angel Knight · Aug 13, 2020

BORTZ said:
FFTA is one of my favorite games of all time. Top 5 maybe higher. Ask me anything you need to know.

Some early game tips.
Watch the laws before you enter battle. my first time around I was dumb and had a team mostly comprised of humans and Bangaa. diversify your team. Use as many different classes and races as you can.
When equipping a weapon, sometimes you will get new skills that go along with them. Eventually, you will master the attached skill and it will be usable without the weapon equipped. That skill is now housed in your class. So say you master Fire as a black mage. Well you can change to any other class and set "Black Mage" as your secondary class and still use "fire" without a rod, the black mage class, while being a completely different class, like an Archer.
Switch weapons often once you have mastered the attached skills. Certain amounts of skills unlocked on a class will unlock new classes.
Watch the laws, for example don't get into a fight with wild animals and have the law be something like "Dmg2: Animal" cause uh, yeah you can't win that.
Use the laws to your benefit. they are fun in this game since the computer does its best to obey too. Eventually you will be able to manipulate the law yourself with a TGC of sorts.
You will have to look this up but some skills are straight up bugged and wont work. I think I remember Oust being one of them. Its supposed to have a <90% to remove a monster from the battlefield but its tied to the number of things you have KO'd globally or something so the number plummets to decimals faster than you can actually get a Hunter and the necessary bow to learn Oust. Something like that.

I say I love tactics games but I think I only really love FFTA.
And Front Mission. And Shining Force.

Ask me any questions you might have.

I recommend Shining Force but not the GBA version. The artwork is better but from what I remember of my play through, it was so watered down compared to the more "mature" feeling Genesis/MD original.

Well it says so right on the back of the box.

Though I figured if they was already playing a gba game, going to a older system would be a bit... well unorthodox. If they end up liking it, they will have to go there for the sequel since Shining Force 2 is only on the megadrive.

FAST6191 · Aug 14, 2020

There are any number of "tactics" games (it is both a genre and a common part of the name, though not all will, the Shining Force games already mentioned being one example here). Some are better than others but you probably want to play it to see.
If Fire Emblem counts (does little for me but I can see why some go in for them) then I will also suggest taking a look at advance wars.

I should also note there are several hacks for them to variously increase difficulty, add new missions and otherwise tweak things, several even have quite big communities continuously producing things.

BORTZ · Aug 14, 2020

Personally my gamer OCD kicks in and I can't stand losing characters. I have never gotten more than a few chapters into a FE game.

Another gripe i have is that the artwork goes straight to hell after the Sacred Stones.

solidus5790 · Aug 14, 2020

BORTZ said:
FFTA is one of my favorite games of all time. Top 5 maybe higher. Ask me anything you need to know.

Some early game tips.
Watch the laws before you enter battle. my first time around I was dumb and had a team mostly comprised of humans and Bangaa. diversify your team. Use as many different classes and races as you can.
When equipping a weapon, sometimes you will get new skills that go along with them. Eventually, you will master the attached skill and it will be usable without the weapon equipped. That skill is now housed in your class. So say you master Fire as a black mage. Well you can change to any other class and set "Black Mage" as your secondary class and still use "fire" without a rod, the black mage class, while being a completely different class, like an Archer.
Switch weapons often once you have mastered the attached skills. Certain amounts of skills unlocked on a class will unlock new classes.
Watch the laws, for example don't get into a fight with wild animals and have the law be something like "Dmg2: Animal" cause uh, yeah you can't win that.
Use the laws to your benefit. they are fun in this game since the computer does its best to obey too. Eventually you will be able to manipulate the law yourself with a TGC of sorts.
You will have to look this up but some skills are straight up bugged and wont work. I think I remember Oust being one of them. Its supposed to have a <90% to remove a monster from the battlefield but its tied to the number of things you have KO'd globally or something so the number plummets to decimals faster than you can actually get a Hunter and the necessary bow to learn Oust. Something like that.

I say I love tactics games but I think I only really love FFTA.
And Front Mission. And Shining Force.

Ask me any questions you might have.

I recommend Shining Force but not the GBA version. The artwork is better but from what I remember of my play through, it was so watered down compared to the more "mature" feeling Genesis/MD original.

Thanks so much for the tips! So the general idea is to use a weapon until you master its skill, and then move on to a better weapon or a weapon with a skill that you want to learn next? Sticking with a weapon once mastering its ability is pretty much pointless I assume.. unless you dont have anything better. So when you have a certain job and item combo and begin gaining AP for the given skill.. does switching jobs or items remove all of that progress or is it sort of 'stored' in that item/job combo? Also, I havent been able to see how I can learn combos or the counterattack/passive skills. Seems like I have only seen 'A' skills on weapons. Lastly, does it make sense to stick with a core team, or swap a lot to level up many characters? Im not sure how much opportunity I will have to grind levels before running out of missions.. so I dont want to end up with many partially leveled characters vs a few strong ones

BORTZ · Aug 14, 2020

Yep yep and yep. You won't lose progress on a specific weapon if you un-equip before you master it. I remember keeping a Laglace sword attached to anyone who could use one because of the high damage output, when not mastering a new skill.

I never really got the hang of combo skills. I must have missed something myself but I could never really get them to work well enough to use them.
Counter attack is dope as hell. Comes from the Brigandine equip-able to the Thief and White Monk class. So any Human, Moogle, and Bangaa can learn Counter. I say as soon as you get your hands on one, trade it around. The other R and S abilities usually come for things other than weapons.

There are 300 missions and 18 extra? I think? I can't remember. But you will have plenty of time to level up who ever you want to. Personally I liked completely stacking my team with the same members I used all game. I used as many generic units as I could. I did think about killing off Marche and Mont but they are required for story stuff so you can't ignore Marche and killing Mont will lock you out of later missions.

solidus5790 · Aug 14, 2020

BORTZ said:
Yep yep and yep. You won't lose progress on a specific weapon if you un-equip before you master it. I remember keeping a Laglace sword attached to anyone who could use one because of the high damage output, when not mastering a new skill.

I never really got the hang of combo skills. I must have missed something myself but I could never really get them to work well enough to use them.
Counter attack is dope as hell. Comes from the Brigandine equip-able to the Thief and White Monk class. So any Human, Moogle, and Bangaa can learn Counter. I say as soon as you get your hands on one, trade it around. The other R and S abilities usually come for things other than weapons.

There are 300 missions and 18 extra? I think? I can't remember. But you will have plenty of time to level up who ever you want to. Personally I liked completely stacking my team with the same members I used all game. I used as many generic units as I could. I did think about killing off Marche and Mont but they are required for story stuff so you can't ignore Marche and killing Mont will lock you out of later missions.

Awesome makes perfect sense now. Thanks again

Kwyjor · Aug 14, 2020

I never got too far into FFTA; I think I got two of the MacGuffins before it started to seem that it was going to be a really, really long grind. It doesn't help that there are no hints regarding job progression. I remember you have to go up to a level 5 Thief before you can get a Ninja, or something, and there's absolutely no hints regarding that?

Anyway, I might suggest Live-A-Live and Treasure Hunter G, which are both Super Famicom games with translation patches. Maybe Disgaea?

Sonic Angel Knight · Aug 14, 2020

In my opinion, learning abilities in FFTA is not fun. It takes the joy of getting new stuff to use away from me, because of how you have to learn abilities. Unlike War of the lions, where you obtain job points and then buy the ability that way from using the respective job, seems easier. Plus since you're always getting new stuff to wear, and each job requires specified gear, it makes sense to eventually feel okay doing that.

It doesn't feel okay that I got this new stronger weapon, only to realize "Oh wait, i still haven't mastered this weapon's ability yet." Then wonder if I should keep using the weak weapon to master it or use the stronger one to keep up with monsters getting stronger. And I didn't mention how the judge will restrict use of some actions, making it even more... well you can call it challenging, I call it "not fun". War of the lions seem like the easier game to play, but the writing and story isn't my kind of thing. FFTA is the opposite where is harder to play but hopefully less political in plot or characters.

I'm more the kind that leans to shining force with the characters being entertaining with writing, story not putting me to sleep with overloading dialog and some possibly meta plot, and gameplay that is less focused on management of characters and more on action and adapting. (It's still a challenge though) I wouldn't say FFTA is bad, but was a weird follow up to war of the lions.

Goku1992A · Aug 14, 2020

Look at a strategy guide it will give you a list of job info. My best advice is to get a theif that can steal the armor and etc... that will come in handy also make sure you get a healer that knows Cura and Life. If you look at the strageggy guides it will guide you in the right direction.

I'm currently 25 hours in the game on my 2nd run. My first time back in 2004 i had gotten 65 hours but i didn't know what i was doing I was only 13. This game is a long game it will take you around 80 hours for a full completion.

@Sonic Angel Knight
TBH I just didn't like the war of the lions i played the first mission and it seemed boring idk why. I guess I like the multi races versus it only being humans.

@BORTZ
Combos you need a mythrl weapon. Only reason why I know all this because evrey now and then i play this game on my lunch break lol.

Kwyjor · Aug 15, 2020

Goku1992A said:
Look at a strategy guide it will give you a list of job info. My best advice is to get a theif that can steal the armor and etc... that will come in handy also make sure you get a healer that knows Cura and Life. If you look at the strageggy guides it will guide you in the right direction.

I mean, isn't half the fun supposed to be figuring this stuff out for yourself? And if you can't figure it out yourself, what's the point?

Goku1992A · Aug 15, 2020

Kwyjor said:
I mean, isn't half the fun supposed to be figuring this stuff out for yourself? And if you can't figure it out yourself, what's the point?

THis typs of game you need to understand the jobs and ability and skills that is very essencial since if you don't know what you are doing the higher you go the more harder it will get. Games like Pokemon you don't need a strategy guide but games like FFTA you do.

lonestarrisk · Aug 15, 2020

Knights in the Nightmare is a wonderful "tactics" style game. Definitely a hidden gem.

Kwyjor · Aug 15, 2020

Goku1992A said:
THis typs of game you need to understand the jobs and ability and skills that is very essencial since if you don't know what you are doing the higher you go the more harder it will get.

That suggests the lack of an in-game help system is a critical failure.

Games like Pokemon you don't need a strategy guide but games like FFTA you do.

I think many would agree that earlier generations of Pokemon with single-use TMs and poorly-described skills were of highly dubious design as well.

Goku1992A · Aug 15, 2020

Kwyjor said:
That suggests the lack of an in-game help system is a critical failure.

I think many would agree that earlier generations of Pokemon with single-use TMs and poorly-described skills were of highly dubious design as well.

Unfortanately yes there is zero to no help in FFTA they just give you a sword and wish you the best of luck lol. For old school pokemon the same thing the single use TM sucks which was why people was duplicating pokemon in Gold and SIlver. IDK if you could duplicaet in red and blue

Gaming Loving FFTA, what else should I play?

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