Man, Final Fantasy Tactics Sure Had A Steep Learning Curve

Earlier this week, I talked to some game developers about why they love Final Fantasy Tactics. But beloved or not, man, does this game have a steep learning curve. https://kotaku.com/why-everybody-loves-final-fantasy-tactics-5973196 A little background: I never had a PS1, so I didn’t have a chance to play Final Fantasy Tactics. I became terrifyingly hooked on Tactics A2 on the DS, but after hearing so many people prosthelytize about how the original is the superior game, I wanted to finally play it. And so I have been. I’ll be writing about the game a lot here over the coming weeks, since I can already tell there’s going to be a lot to unpack. But first: The whole learning-curve thing. I wanted to share a chat conversation I had with our resident FFT savant Jason Schreier after I spent a couple of hours getting pantsed over and over again by the game’s first difficulty spike, the infamous Dorter Slums Brace for a long, sprawling IM conversation! Kirk: I really just lost Dorter Slums Kirk: man Kirk: got shredded Kirk: am I going to have to go grind in training forever to level my bros up? Jason: nope Jason: tell me about your party Kirk: squire MC (squire) chemist chemist 2 bros Jason: there’s your problem Kirk: ok Kirk: สล็อต go Jason: at this point, your characters should all be at least job level 2 in their respective classes Kirk: I thiiink they are Jason: at squire level 2, you can become a knight or archer Jason: at chemist level 2, you can become a wizard or priest Kirk: yeah but how can I get a bow Jason: igros castle sells equipment for knights and archers Jason: gariland sells stuff for wizards and priests Kirk: ok one sec, getting back into the game Jason: oh also, save a lot Jason: because you can get into random battles any time you’re moving across a green tile Jason: and there’s no fleeing Kirk: yup Kirk: I’m already on top of that one Kirk: so should I make my bro a knight Jason: yeah so at this point it’s totally up to you Jason: this is basically where the game starts opening up Kirk: so what’s a good party Jason: you might want to make algus and delita knights Jason: since their AI is dumb Jason: and knights have the most HP Kirk: yeah I mean god Kirk: fucking morons Jason: a good party for your four guys is knight/archer/wizard/priest for now Kirk: k Jason: then when the battle starts you can move your archer-bro up the bigass hill Jason: with your wizard to help take out bros up there Jason: keep your knight below to slash shit up and your priest to give him support Jason: now for the spell system Kirk: ok ok one sec Jason: basically what happens is when you select a spell to cast, you can also check when that spell will actually go off Kirk: i’m making my chick chemist Hilde p31 เครดิตฟรี 188 into a white mage Jason: and you can hit a button (i forget which) to see the entire order of events Jason: so like Jason: if you’re casting a fire spell on an enemy Jason: you want to get it off before that enemy moves Jason: so if the turn order says the enemy will go first Jason: you might not want to cast it on that guy Jason: but there are a lot of factors involved Kirk: so ok Jason: you’ll get the hang of it Kirk: how do i check turn order Kirk: I can’t figure that out Jason: so when you go to cast a spell Jason: either right, or select Jason: i forget Jason: or start maybe Jason: idk Jason: play around with buttons Jason: but there’s a way to see it in the menu when you cast that spell Kirk: right Kirk: so it takes a turn, which makes sense Kirk: it’s like Trails In The Sky in that way actually Kirk: in A2 you usually cast immediately except with some spells, at least that’s how I remember it Jason: yeah Jason: well the math is like Jason: everyone has a bar called CT that gradually charges Jason: and when a character’s CT hits 100, it’s their turn Jason: but some classes recharge faster than others Jason: it’s all based on your speed stat Kirk: riiiight Kirk: CT Jason: your main character, btw, gets a shitload of awesome squire abilities that you should learn asap Jason: including one that boosts speed Jason: oh also Jason: when you’re switching everyone’s classes Jason: make sure you remember to give them secondary skills Jason: so like ramza should get Guts always Kirk: so right Kirk: so like Jason: some other dudes could get Items Kirk: I’m gonna do that Kirk: so I have to learn abilities Kirk: what was the thing you said I should learn immediately though? Jason: gained JP up Jason: for everyone Kirk: how do i do that Jason: ok go into the menu Jason: go to job/abilities Kirk: yeah Jason: there should be a big menu with every class Kirk: yup Jason: for each character, you go into each class and you can learn abils there Kirk: yes Kirk: aah Kirk: JP Boost Kirk: is that it? Jason: oh yeah, sorry Jason: some of the abil names were changed for PSP Jason: “gained jp up” was psx Kirk: so if I learn that Kirk: for Squire Kirk: and I’m a knight Kirk: I’ll still have it? Jason: yes Kirk: k Jason: you have to equip it, though Jason: each char can only use one support ability at a time Jason: one reaction, one support, one movement Kirk: ooh Jason: so for each character, you have to learn JP boost, then equip it Jason: abilities are different Jason: active abilities, that is Jason: i think they’re called “command” abilities Kirk: great Kirk: this is great Jason: so if you have a knight, and you set his secondary ability to squire abils Jason: then you can use all squire command abilities Jason: but not all squire support/movement/reaction abilities Kirk: ok hang on parsing that Jason: those are separate Jason: ok basically Jason: go to one of your dudes Jason: and go into the menu where it lists all the jobs Jason: then go to squire Kirk: ohh Kirk: hang on Kirk: so first I have to activate JP boost Kirk: I have two lightning bolt abilities Kirk: an arrow Kirk: a looping arrow Kirk: and a foot Jason: right Jason: i forget which arrows are which Jason: but one is support, one is reaction Jason: foot is move Jason: the two lightning bolts are command abils Kirk: right Jason: so those can all be mixed and matched Jason: once a character learns an ability, he can equip it at any time Jason: so once Kirklton has jp boost, he can put that in no matter what class he is Kirk: right Kirk: got it Kirk: not everyone has enough jp to get jp boost yet Kirk: but they’re close Kirk: we’ll have to win another fight or two Kirk: probs on the way to the castle to get a bow Jason: so do that before you switch classes Kirk: right Jason: since remember, they all need to be getting squire jp Kirk: well Kirk: my mages are all good Kirk: oh aaah Kirk: they have to be squires to get the jp Kirk: right right Jason: not necessarily Jason: remember the sharing thing Kirk: is move+1 necessary? my black mage isn’t close to getting it Jason: ok so yeah, as long as you have one or two squires, everyone will learn at least a tiny bit of squire jp Kirk: aah got it u31.com เข้าสู่ระบบ Kirk: I don’t want any squires Jason: it’s nice, but not necessary Jason: right so Jason: when you’re grinding Jason: you can have one person be a squire Jason: so everyone else gains that jp Jason: and can get jp boost Kirk: riiight Jason: since jp boost is necessary Kirk: do you grind with training? Jason: what do you mean Jason: ok here’s the thing about grinding Jason: you basically never need to grind Jason: unless you have specific goals Jason: like “hey i wanna get this ability right now” Jason: but what you can do is Jason: in one battle Jason: kill every monster but one Jason: weaken that one Jason: he’ll run away to a corner of the map Jason: and then just have all your characters wail on one another Jason: or use random abilities Jason: because they gain JP/exp for every action Jason: so that’s what really matters Kirk: right Jason: you can get hundreds and hundreds of JP in one random battle just by having your characters attack each other for a little while Kirk: god Kirk: hahahaha Kirk: how the fuck did anyone learn this Kirk: I guess they read the manual Jason: nah Jason: there’s a bigass tutorial section but in the original version it was garbled and wrong Jason: so we all just kind of Jason: fucked around Even a week or so later, transcribing and re-printing that chat, I understand more of just what the hell Jason was talking about than I did at the time. But any way you slice it… well, Final Fantasy Tactics is not a welcoming game. That’s okay, mind: Part of the fun of these older games is leaning on the expertise of folks who have been playing them for more than a decade. (I found a similar thing when I played through Final Fantasy VII alongside Leigh Alexander a few years ago.) I’m well beyond Dorter Slums now, and have got my head around a lot of the game’s rules and intricacies. I’ll have much more on Final Fantasy Tactics in the near future. And hey, if you’re playing along, I’d love to hear your tips, too. Leave a comment or hit me up on Twitter, I’m having a great time chatting with everyone about the game.