How not to build your team 2. Final Fantasy 4 invades Ivalice.

If you look very closely you can almost make
out Cecil's gang in the background somewhere.

While Cecil's gang's misadventures in Vana'diel could have gone better, how would they fare in Ivalice, during the time of Final Fantasy Tactics?

I've actually got an anecdote as the inspiration for this blog entry. Back in 1998, not long after Final Fantasy Tactics was released on PS1 in the US, I was living in New Zealand at the time and had learned about this game in US gaming magazines at the time. This was after FF7. Obviously no body in New Zealand had heard of this game at the time. I utilised the then cutting edge technology, the internet, to find out more about this game, and I was hooked. FF7 who? FFT is where it's at.

Of course, FFT never did receive a PAL release. Luckily for me, I decided to beg my mother to let me borrow her credit card and purchased an NTSC PS1 over the internet and started importing. Best choice of my life. I would have otherwise missed many many quality RPGs that never saw the light of day in PAL. (Just to name some, FFT, SaGa Frontier, Parasite Eve, Xenogears, Wild Arms 2, Chrono Cross, etc, oh the good old days, how I miss thee!)

Anyway, I had found several guides and FAQs on FFT. Back then Gamefaqs had a white background and red logo, updated twice a week and had no boards. I also found this. A small guide for FFT where the author recommended making a party of 5 based on FF4 and get rid of everyone else. Of course, the author took some liberties (eg, Samurai instead of Knight for Cecil) but it didn't seem like the best advice at the time as I thought his team was not very flexible. That got me thinking. How would the game play using the FF4 team, recreated faithfully in FFT? (With Ramza being Cecil).

Note, I may use some terms from the PS1 version of the game instead of the PSP, not that I believe the PS1 translation is more accurate, I don't, I am just more familiar with the PS1 names. I'll also give them appropriate reaction, support and move skills that's not too overpowered. If they all had Blade Grasp it would be no challenge. (WTF is Blade Grasp called in PSP version again? Sh-something?)

Cecil. Actually not that bad.

Cecil
While FFT doesn't have the Paladin job, Knight comes close, and adding White Magic to secondary re-creates it.

Battle Skills
White Magic
Speed Save
Defense Up
Move +3

Battle Skills aren't exactly that useful in a real fight, and their accuracy cannot be relied upon. Cecil's White Magic is really limited to some very light healing, just like FF4.

I gave him Speed Save because he is the only team member without some type of range attack, hence he'll need as many turns as he can get, and Move +3 also helps. As for Defense Up, there's no direct FFT skill for his ability to take a hit for a team member, so I'll just up his own defence instead.

The Knight's biggest advantage is his equipment selection, able to equip knight swords and good armour selection. I'll give him the Excalibur, as he canonically received it in FF4, so he'll have Haste, with Speed Save it'll help him move closer to the enemies. Don't forget Knights also have access to robes, which increase MP as well if you wish to use more magic.

Overall, Cecil needs to rely on his melee attack. He gets high HP, good evade due to shield and Defense Up, so he can take a beating. On the turns where he can't reach the enemy, he can heal himself mildly. He should gain more and more turns as he gets hit, and should be able to hold his own.

Rosa.... interesting.

Rosa
Rosa's canon job is White Mage, with Archer type skills. I will give 2 variations for Rosa.

White Magic
Charge
Regenerator
Equip Crossbow
Move +2

Charge
White Magic
Regenerator
Concentrate
Move +2

The first option is more magey, equipped with a crossbow so she can attack (somewhat) from a range. White Mages have good stats so the damage wouldn't be terrible. Regenerator as it seems healer-y, and Move +2 so she can get around doing the healing.

The second option lets us re-create her Aim skill from FF4. And she is able to use a real bow, which has better range, can take advantage of height better and bows tend to be stronger than crossbows. White Magic secondary gives her some healing skills. This set gives her better damage capabilities, also an option as 3 other members can heal, so healing may not be as important sometimes. 100% accuracy is also pretty cool, but the Charge skill set is marginally useful on either set.

Overall, the first set creates an ok healer with some attack abilities and is safer, however White Magic isn't really that useful in harder fights, as the stronger spells take a long time to charge. The second set lets you create a decent archer (though archer's usefulness is debatable in FFT) with some healing abilities, but may not be enough for some maps.

Kain. Strong.

Kain
Kain is a Dragoon. As he doesn't really have an obvious secondary skill set in FF4, I'll give him Item, which he is also able to use in FF4.

Jump
Item
Dragon Spirit
Attack Up
Ignore Height

The Jump set only does one thing, but man is it powerful.  Dragoons are pretty strong as is, spears have good power (especially Zodiac Spear), 2 space reach, amplified with Jump AND he gets Attack Up and to be able to attack from 8 spaces away with a height difference of 8 is insane. Dragon Spirit sets him up when he gets hit, and can then Phoenix Down any other dead allies. Ignore Height just because it's a very Dragoon-y skill. The Item skill set also makes him good support, but he should be very busy with attacking. He can restore MP for Rydia, cure status conditions, revive and Elixirs for those super emergencies.

This is actually a pretty strong set up without going into power gamer territory. The main thing is able to master the Jump timing, otherwise you're wasting the skill. You can get bad luck sometimes where you can't Jump anyone due to CT order, but usually you should be able to use it regularly. Can traverse terrible terrain due to Ignore Height, have insane horizontal and vertical reach and potentially immortal. The rest of your team just needs to stay alive for his timer to run out.

Rydia. Good.

Rydia
Rydia is a Summoner with the Black Magic skill set, just like FF4.

Summoning Magic
Black Magic
MP Restore
Short Charge/Half of MP
Move +2/Move MP-Up

The Summoning skill set is pretty good, apart from smart targeting, they tend to have large range and even some of the lower ones have decent power. They have 2 problems though, slow and use a lot of MP. You can remedy one or the other but not both. I would use Short Charge so you can get more spells off and able to hit more units before they move out of the way. MP Restore just in case you're under attack, have a good chance to fill up your MP. Can choose between Move +2 or Move MP-Up, since she is so MP dependent, however without Move +2 she may not be able to get many spells off anyway, and Move MP-Up gives you so little MP it might not be worth it anyway. Black Magic is a little redundant with Summoning, but it's another option, and Flare gives you a high damaging spell for bosses. She also gets 2 healing spells with Summoning, so could be useful in a pinch. Also Golem is a life saver.

Overally Rydia can be good in FFT, but very reliant on MP. Without it they she is dead weight. Just try to hit as many units with her spells before they can move out of the way, so there maybe few chances to use her more powerful spells. She is also very weak and are at risk of being one-shotted (those pesky Red Chocobos!) She can hit most elemental weaknesses for some good damage, can cast Frog if you wish to disable an enemy (good for stealing!) and has access to Lich if you need an alternate strategy for bosses.

Edge. Strong.

Edge
Edge is a Ninja, with the Steal set, just like FF4.

Throw
Steal
Sunken State
Concentrate
Move +3

Throw duplicates his ability in FF4 and is a good long range attack, and Move +3 serves to increase its range. Steal is a good combo with Ninja due to its high speed and you can use it to get some good equipment if you wish. Sunken State is mainly there for flavour, but make it so he can sneak up on unsuspecting enemies and deliver 2 strong hits. Concentrate makes his attacks unblockable, and increase his Steal rate.

Ninjas are very strong no matter how you look at it, having 2 weapons is a great advantage. He will also have good mobility, speed, accuracy and able to hit from up to 8 spaces away. Sunken State can be used to sneak up one some pesky units (eg, Mages) without them noticing you. Overall, another very solid character.

How they fare as a team
Actually, nowhere near as bad as the title to this post would have you think. Dragoons and Ninjas are naturally very strong units, and they have been set up decently too, so Kain and Edge would be your main attackers. Also both are able to attack from 8 spaces away, so they can wither the enemies down before they get to you.

Summoner can be strong, especially with Quick Charge, and some lucky positioning can catch multiple enemies in a summon and totally party friendly. Rydia can also heal in a pinch too. Need to ration her MP. Hopefully by the time it runs low you should have almost won the fight.

Gotta break his sword if Cecil is to stand a chance
against him! Hope you like reloading.

Cecil is built as a tank and very sturdy, but Knights don't have a very good skill set, have no range and his secondary White Magic is piss weak. However hopefully when he gets Excalibur he should be in a position to get more turns to reach the enemies, so he can keep up with your other 4 characters, as they all have range attacks.

Rosa is either going to be mediocre or surprisingly effective, as I don't think many people would have mixed White Mage with Archer before. Even as an Archer (option 2), I've found bow attack damage to be quite mild, so she would be more used to snipe enemies weakened by the others.

Despite 4 team members can heal, only Rydia is able to provide any reliable healing, especially to multiple targets. Items heal up to 150 with X-Potions (unless you want to dip into your Elixirs) and Cecil can only apply band-aids. Rosa, even as a White Mage, isn't a reliable healer due to the high charge time for Curaga and Curaja, and the lower tiers don't heal very much. This team is very much an offence team, with Cecil set up as the decoy to draw enemy fire. Edge and Kain are both very strong, mobile and able to hit from far away, expect them to get most of your kills. Rydia can be versatile, and Rosa mop up the few that survive. Actually this might be a pretty decent team.

Next up. It's hard being an RPG gamer in Australia. Stay tuned.