Any advice for a FFT virgin?

[War]

I've never played any of the Final Fantasy Tactics games, so I was wondering which one people liked the most...? I tried out War of the Lions for the PSP, and holy crap it was BORING AS HELL. I couldn't force myself to go anywhere past the third mission because I was literally falling asleep. I've never tried out FFTA2 either, but I know a lot of people like it, and they seem to spend 1239081754 hours with it. (I heard complaints that it's a really slow game though).

Any suggestions?

 

[Glacius0]

Here's my advice: wear a c... a wait..no, I mean, most people really like the original FFT. If you don't, then maybe strategy games are not your thing. The FFTA games tend to have a pretty bland story but the gameplay is nice. It's still a bit slow though. If you want a good story I would really recommend Front Mission DS. It's also made by Square and has some pretty cool mech customization.

 

[War]

No, I actually really like strategy games. Well... at least I loved Disgaea and Disgaea 2. I just found FFTT: WotL to be SO boring. The story is so complicated and bland, the gameplay is absolutely ridiculous (uber slow, enemy takes forever to make their moves, everyone is really weak so battles take forever to finish, etc)

 

[Raika]

I suggest Jeanne D' Arc, Wild Arms XF and Worms Open Warfare 2, they are awesome games!

 

[Satangel]

Well if you like strategy games, you should play Fire Emblem DS then

Or Advance Wars (both) for the DS

 

[CorruptedAngel]

the original for the GBA was the best, in my opinion

 

[Vulpes Abnocto]

I've heard that WotL is a port of the original PS1 game.
If this is the case, yes it does start off pretty boring,
but the story is very engaging after the first couple of chapters.

 

[Maybe]

I, personally never liked the ps1 FFT or WoTL. I would definitely recommend FFTA2 if you haven't played it, but even better than A2 is FFTA. If you haven't played THAT then you should play it first, since it has a better story and overall is just more fun. But, yeah, stay away from FFT and WoTL

 

[Noitora]

I would start with the first game as it's better, I loved it, but the second one didn't catch my attention at all also there are some connections between the two games.

Edit: FF for the PSX sucked balls if you ask me

 

[Toni Plutonij]

I know that my favorite is probably Tactics Advance! It was amazing GBA game (stil is), and it has good balance of story/gameply, and it's not that slow..

So you should really try it out! After that one, I really enjoyed (and still am enjoying) Tactics Advance 2 for DS!

 

[xcalibur]

Even though I never played it, I've heard that the FFT games have lots of DRAMA and PLOTTWISTS so I suggest you just grit your teeth and get through these introductory chapters. It might be worth it.

For those who are expecting an in-depth story, prepare yourself, because it is deep. Never have I seen so many twists and backstabs in a plot. On the other hand, the story can be so in-depth that the plot tends to get confusing.

Taken from IGN official review

 

[Louisiana]

Don't play them.

 

[Raika]

That is the most useful post in this thread[/sarcasm]

 

[Louisiana]

I don't see why you should play a series of strategy games that require no strategy.

 

[Raestloz]

War of The Lions is as boring as hell, try to play the PSX version, no aristocratic languange, familiar to normal ear names.

I mean, I like Zalbag better than Zalbaag, Orlandu than Orlandeau. Also, I like "Oh, God" better than "Deliver us o' God", dammit, why do they have to change it anyway?

And the best part is NO SLOWDOWNS! I thought it was my PSP, but all WoTL seems to suffer slowdowns while showing GFXs, bad move SE.

Try it, at least your respect for Final Fantasy Tactics will be higher.

FFTA2 is slow as hell too, like Age of Mythologies, okay, it's fater than that, but it might feel too "limited" and "been there, done that" feeling might clutch you, seeing there's NO story to follow at all, why?

FFTA should be beter than the first, but I dunno, in some parts FFTA2 is better, in other parts, FFTA is better

If you don't like FFT PSX ten I suggest you play RTS rather than TBS

 

[ENDscape]

I dont know...i really liked the PSX FFT, never really got into the Lionwar port. Maybe because i played it on PSX? Maybe, but i played the ff4 on the ds and dq4 and other ports...Oh right its becasue Lionwar friggin lags like hell when doing abilities.

But i loved how you get jp when doing actions instead of at the end of fight like the ffta ones. But it depends on the person playing i guess.

 

[Raestloz]

FFT is the best IMo no matter how you look at it, aside from Lion War I guess, I was excited as hell when I got my hands on a PSP, too bad it's slow as the deepest layer of hell and uses aristocratic English of Old, makes me think how can they say this is an "improvement", one Fell Knight won't pay back the slowdown

 

[Anakir]

It's alright. I experienced exactly the same thing when I first started playing. I got a motivation to continue after my cousin showed me that I can have many more jobs other than a Squire and Chemists.

So, first of all. Just to make sure, you know can change your character's jobs right from the beginning right? 'cause I made a huge mistake of not knowing which made me feel like quitting.

Anyways, to continue on. Yes, the beginning is slow. Your characters are very weak. Even battles are slow. But, it all gets MUCH better later on.

As soon as you reach level 20's and higher, that's where the real fun begins. I went through many job changes already and I still don't get enough. By 20s, I can pretty much kill anything within 1 or 2 hits. It makes it so much faster.. but you have to have the right combination of abilities.

I try not to use Melee class as much because they're over powered, but that's where the fast exp and jp points come in. I plan to switch to magic users later on. My characters are currently level 60's.

If you want a way to level fast, here's what I suggest:

-get JP Boost and Focus as fast as you can from the Squire abilities
-turn to Monk and try to learn Hp Recovery as fast as you can. (your HP recovers fully when you fall down to a critical state. Rate of that happening depends on your character's Brave points)

Now, when you enter battle. Kill everything until one monster is left. Keep attacking your own characters and hope that they keep using HP recover whenever they get to critical state. OR a much faster way, have all your characters just keep using Focus and end your turn. This way, it goes a lot faster.

One thing I have to explain though, try not to Move AND Action at the same time if necessary. It requires more CT points. (CT Points are under your MP stats). CT points represents how fast it'll be until its your turn again. Moving and doing an action resets your CT points all the way to 20. Only doing an Action/move resets it to 40, so it'll be faster to receive a turn again.

Basically, just continue repeating the process.

I have a Time Mage. I love my Time Mage. She has a spell called Quick which restores my CT back to 100. Very useful in my opinion.

Right now.. my party consists of: (I try to challenge myself by not using the over powered characters you get later on during the game)

Ramza - Knight with Duel Wield (two swords from Ninja ability). I used to be a Squire, Ninja, and Monk before.
Time Mage - with White magic
Monk - with Steal using Concentration from Archer. (steals better than my actual Thief lol)
Orator - Works well along with my Monk because if there's too much to steal, I just invite them to my party/put them to sleep. I also use him to rase bravery. Also have the ability Items with Throw Items in case I need a quick heal.
Ninja/Squire/Dragoon/Whatever.. - This guy is another melee in case my Ramza needs backup.

Edit: Forgot to mention, I end battles within 5 minutes now if I feel like ending it really quick.. It gets a lot faster. Oh and, I still suggest the PSX version. It doesn't have slow down when doing an attack. But, it has a lot less features like multiplayer.

You can, apparently, play multiplayer online. You gotta set up things on your computer though to connect to another PSP through internet which tricks the PSP into thinking its a Local WiFi. I forgot what it's called, but if you're interested, tell me and I'll get you the name of it.

 

[War]

Hm... well Anakir, your post has inspired me to start again. Though I think I'll go with the PSX version, as you said. Even if the PSP version has some really nice cut-scenes and those 2 extra jobs (Onion Knight and DK), the PSX version doesn't have slowdowns or that horrible "ye olde English".

 

[Gore]

Damn it Burger King, what have you done?...