Of choices and reasons

[Mitera Nikkou]

Speaking of emulators, I've been contemplating doing just that so I can see about actually being able to cast dark holy myself, instead of just those daemons (or whatever they were).

And are you serious, Garath? Out of all of the things that the game offered, it's just that one spell worth giving a tip of the ol' hat to? XD;;

[Xia]

Very few other FF's (iirc) had something as "sinister" as Dark Holy

All you have to do is cheat your characters job to Ultima Demon. I've done it before a couple times :o

I made a team of Zodiac Class characters to fight Zodiac bosses...horrible idea, as Zodiac bosses main ability is mostly status effect attacks

[Garath the Shadowshifter]

I'm being a bit unfair in that aspect, as I do enjoy a few other things from the game. But gah, I just hate Stratagy RPGs so much. I've tried to play this game a couple of times, and It's always just so stupid and boring to me. I guess when the battles are nothing more then troop placement/stratagy, the fun just isn't there anymore.

Only stratagy game I really loved was Zone of Enders: Fist of Mars, and that's because of the unique way they handled the "Attack and Dodge" features of the game.

But regardless, Dark Holy is just plain awsome.

[Raleigh]

At most I've seen the zodiac stuff make a difference of like 5 hp more damage or less but other than that, nothing.

[Mitera Nikkou]

Xia:

I've seen some codes that show what certain digits mean which job, command or skill, but I haven't found the rest of the code to place those at the end of (I'm assuming).

Dark holy is virtually the same as holy, graphically, but it's that little byte of sound that makes all of the difference as the character being attacked gets consumed by the darkness. Plus, depending on the setting where you play the game, it is also easier on the eyes than holy. Holy reminds me of all of the earlier games that used to rely on flashes and white-outs for effects (like, for instance, the first Wild Arms).

Garath:

Hey, I can understand. I won't even argue that character placement is more realistic, because sometimes it's just better to have the ease and relative relaxation of one side facing off with another. Or, for that matter, it could be more fun to actually control the character's actions in battle in real-time (such as in the Tales series and Radiata stories; or the Zelda and Mana series, if you prefer otherwise).

While typically more time-consuming, strategy often does offer its own advantages. Character placement, for instance, allows better control of what the enemy has access to. So, in that regard, you could keep a weak character out of danger, whereas they'd otherwise be asking to be killed while they stand alongside the other characters in your standard RPG. In the end it's just different, and how enjoyable any game is is still more dependent on what the game itself offers because, evidently, you can have a crappy RPG that's no fun playing whether it's strategy or not.

I guess I have no problem with strategy games since I'm both patient and I love puzzle-solving, and strategy is just a puzzle that changes over time. Sometimes simply picking out a spell with the right element isn't enjoyable enough in a standard RPG. For instance, it feels great when you can find an enemy's weakness, lure them into a prone position, and then not only kill them but also do so without endangering your character to attack. Or, how about this... You have a weak character that you want to level up, but it's tough getting them close to the combat without them dying. In a standard RPG you really have no choice, and you tend to have to rely on the turns of other characters to keep them alive. However, in Final Fantasy Tactics, you might be able to take advantage of the terrain. You could move the character out of harm's way, and lure another enemy to them. You can maneuver your character so the likely place the enemy will follow is next to a ledge, where your character can hit them with a rock, or dash into them, in the hopes of pushing them over. In that way you can win because of the strategic damage caused by the fall instead of the strength that the character would be limited to in your standard RPG. And, I must admit, I love knocking enemies off of high places... Mwa-ha-ha!

Raleigh:

I haven't even seen that. I mean, are you sure? You'd have to compare enemies/characters with the same stats, and aren't they randomly generated, even to a degree in non-random battles?

[Xia]

Seriously, I see damage change in the hundreds because of Zodiac compatibility

[Raleigh]

I had two characters in the same class with the same equip hit one opponent. One with compatibility for and one against, I saw only 5 hp damage difference in the performance of both. Both characters were special characters but they were each trained only in their default class and chemist, the attacks were physical with normal swords.

[Mitera Nikkou]

Xia:

Hundreds? Now that's just crazy talk. :O

Raleigh:

That's not accurate enough. Did they have the same attack power and brave (if the latter applies)?

[Xia]

Yeah, we'd have to see PATK, weapon, brave, class

and I'm not kidding. I'll set up a reasonable test

[Selena Aninikkou]

I'm not answering, mainly because I spent an excessive amount of my life thinking of how I'd fit into every single game I'd ever played, so I couldn't possibly answer that...

As for Tactics... seriously, using the story characters just makes the game unbalanced. The point of the generics was to add CHALLENGE to the game, as winning with characters like TG Cid, Agrias and Meliadoul is so insanely simple, it takes no effort at all...

That said, my final party was Ramza, TG Cid, Agrias, Beowulf and Reis. Yes, I suck that way too. Reis can tear the battlefield apart with the right abilities (read: Mag Att Up + Calculate). But Calculate is so rigged on its own, it makes the game a lot less challenging. And seriously, the added Dark Knight class? Holy game breaker there; I one-hit Ultima at the end of the game with Dark Knight Ramza and two Chaos Breakers. That should NOT be possible...

[Xia]

Its only possible with the first form of Ultima (~1400HP) the second one has around ~3200HP, so you cant just kill it in one hit :o (or two with duel wield)

and you could do that before the Dark Knight. Thats all about Ramza as a monk. Besides, it takes work to get the Dark Knight class, by the time you get it doing things semi normally, you're already well more powerful than you should be. and with the Calculator, to get it good, you have to have spent enough time with the various mage classes.

I always wondered why people complain about optional things that make the game unbalanced, considering you had to have chosen to do it.

(Also: Reis is so much better with Brawler than MATK Up. Ramza, Reis, 3 Tiamets. Thats good use of Reis)

[Mitera Nikkou]

I'm assuming this Dark Knight class and some of these other things is in the second FFT version?

[Xia]

Yeah. you get the HP and MP draining sword skills Gaffgarion had, plus some other skills.

Its a bit ridiculous to get though, lvl 8 geomancer, samurai, ninja, lancer, master knight, master black mage, kill and crystalize 20 enemies.

by the time you get it you're well overpowered, so its just icing on the cake. tasty icing though :o

[Selena Aninikkou]

by the time you get it you're well overpowered, so its just icing on the cake. tasty icing though

Depends on your definition of overpowered. I had it on my Ramza before he hit the 60's. But a level 60 Dark Knight is rigged enough; when he hit level 99, he was tearing people up...

You're right about the second form, though. I had to use two characters (Ramza and Orlandu) because he survived the first shot. Still, I didn't actually need Ramza to be a Dark Knight; he could have been a Squire and one-hit Ultima anyway...

Tactics is too easy to numbercrunch in. And despite the time Calculator takes, getting it at all automatically rigs the game, badly. ESPECIALLY in the PSP version, which has obvious and easy to abuse number bugs (EVERY battle will start off with multiple-of-3 charge time totals, so if you want to win fast, equip everyone with Chameleon Robes and open with 3-Charge-Holy. Bam, instant win, especially if the caster is a Black Mage with Arcane Strength...).

[Mitera Nikkou]

I suppose they just wanted the re-release to be easier and/or have more fun things to do, as often happens with re-releases. If it's not new and better things, or less experience needed for gaining levels, it's formulas that are easier to abuse.