Zwill Straightblade [dagger] Fomalhaut [gun]
* Orochi [ninja blade] Glacial Gun [gun]
* Moonsilk Blade [ninja blade] Blaze Gun [gun]
Blood Sword [sword] Artemis Bow [bow]
* Onion Sword [sword] * Gae Bolg [polearm]
* Francisca [axe] * Chaosbringer [fell sword]
Golden Axe [axe] * Arondight [fell sword]
* Nirvana [staff] * Balmung [fell sword]
* Vesper [flail]
SHIELDS:
* Reverie Shield
HEADGEAR:
* Onion Helm [helm] Cachusha [hair adornment]
* Acacia Hat [hat] Ribbon [hair adornment]
ARMOR:
Rubber Suit [clothes] * Brave Suit [clothes]
* Minerva Bustier [clothes] * Sage’s Robe [robe]
ACCESSORIES:
* Onion Gloves [gauntlets] Chantage [perfume]
* Empyreal Armband [armlet]
ITEMS:
Elixir [item]
Note that some of these items (like the Brave Suit) are quite rare, and you
won’t find them often even with all characters at level 99.
—Item Evaluation————————————————————-
Of these items, the most valuable by far is the Brave Suit. This is the best
suit of clothes in the game; it boosts your HP and MP by quite a bit and gives
you a permanent Reraise like Chantage! This means you can finally have male
characters with a permanent Reraise. And, equipping a Brave Suit on a female
character frees up an accessory slot that otherwise might have gone to
Chantage. Unfortunately, the Brave Suit shows up quite infrequently.
Other good armor here includes the Acacia Hat and the Reverie Shield, which is
second only to the Escutcheon II amongst shields. (And since there’s only one
Escutcheon II, a supply of Reverie Shields is good to have.) In some cases,
the Reverie Shield can be even better than the Escutcheon II since it halves
all elemental damage, good for magick attacks you can’t evade (e.g. hydra
breath attacks). And while they’re not unique to Melee Mode, the plentiful
supply of Rubber Suits and Ribbons here is actually quite nice; the Rubber Suit
is the best alternative to the Brave Suit, and Ribbons guard female characters
against almost all status ailments!
The Orochi and Moonsilk Blade are the most powerful ninja swords — the
Moonsilk is a bit stronger in raw attack power, but the Orochi drains HP. If
you use Ninjas, you’ll want to collect these up!
The Minerva Bustier is also good to pick up if you use Reis. Although not as
strong as some other pieces of armor, it’s the only body armor that can be
equipped by Reis’s Dragonkin job.
Finally, if you use Onion Knights, you’ll also want to grab the Onion Sword,
Helm, and Gloves here. (The Onion Armor and Shield are found in Rendezvous
Mode.)
Most of the other equipment isn’t that great; they’re either in unhelpful
weapon classes (e.g. axes) or are inferior to items available in Rendezvous
Mode.
%%%RENDEZVOUS MODE – GENERAL INFORMATION%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00ren0
The Rendezvous Mode is a two-player co-operative mode. It consists of 15
missions that two players tackle together. (It’s not possible to play these
missions with just one player.) Completing the missions earns you items,
including a number of rare items you can only find in this mode (see below for
details).
The later missions also make for a particular challenge for FF Tactics masters,
as they’re the toughest battles in the game.
—STARTING A MISSION—
Beginning midway through Chapter I, new Rendezvous Mode missions will continue
to become available as you progress through the single-player game. A mission
may be selected as long at least ONE of the two players has unlocked it, though
both players must have at least progressed through the first few battles of the
game to make the Rendezvous Mode option appear in a Taven.
To start a Rendezvous Mode mission, have each player go to the Tavern and
choose Rendezvous Mode and "Start a Mission." The hosting player (Player 1)
should choose to host a mission and the other player should choose to join.
Like Melee Mode, Rendezvous Mode can only be played over a local (ad hoc)
connection.
Each mission can be played an unlimited number of times, regardless of whether
you win or lose.
Unlike the Melee Mode, Rendezvous missions do not cost gil.
—MISSION DIFFICULTY—
The Rendezvous Mode missions that you can unlock as you play through the
single-player mode are appropriate for characters at that stage of the game.
So, the missions you unlock in Chapter II can be tackled while you’re still in
Chapter II, and so on.
The experience level of the enemies you face in Rendezvous Mode scales with
your own characters’ levels. So, simply leveling up won’t really help you win
the battles. Of course, learning new abilities, gaining equipment, and using
the stat-raising tricks described in the Level Downs and Stat-Grinding section
*will* help you. š
—THE RULES—
Rendezvous Mode differs from single-player combat in several ways:
* You CANNOT permanently lose items or characters in this mode. Stolen and
broken items, and items consumed using the Throw, Iaido, and Items commands,
are restored to you at the end of battle. Characters cannot permanently die
because they simply teleport out of the battle when their KO counter expires.
(Since they’re not permanent deaths, these do NOT count as Casualties on your
Chronicle screen.) Anyone turned into a Malboro by Malboro Spores is turned
back into a human.
Note that this makes some abilities substantially more useful in the Rendezvous
Mode since you no longer have to worry about losing rare items. Elixirs are
great for restoring HP and MP, the Masamune and Chirijiraden Iaidos can be used
freely (Masamune casts Haste and Regen on a group!) and rare weapons like the
Chaos Blade can be thrown without losing them.
* You CAN keep items that YOU obtain from chests, stealing, and catching them
from ENEMIES using Sticky Fingers. You CANNOT keep weapons caught when your
partner throws them (which would otherwise allow you to easily duplicate any
weapon :P). You must win the battle to keep your gained items; they are lost
if you fail the mission.
* The Arithmeticks command is completely off-limits in this mode and cannot be
used.
* Monsters cannot be poached for items. Poaching a monster will still remove
it from the map, but no items will be added to the Poachers’ Den.
* While the Traitor status (from Entice or Tame) can still be used to recruit
enemies onto your side for the duration of the battle, they cannot join your
team permanently afterwards.
* Only JP, not EXP or levels, is earned. In addition to earning JP, you can
also learn and keep abilities from crystals. Magick that can be learned from
being hit with it (see Advanced Tactics) can also be learned and kept. You
must win the battle to keep your abilities; they are lost if you fail the
mission.
Since you cannot gain levels, the Wild Boar’s Bequeath Bacon is ineffective in
this mode.
* Bravery and Faith can be changed for the duration of a battle, but there are
no permanent changes.
* There are no traps and no items that can be found using Treasure Hunter (even
on tiles where there are traps/items in the single-player game).
* Your characters cannot be put under AI control.
* The game cannot be paused. (However, when one player is moving, the other
player can scroll around the map and looking at characters’ status.)
* Although Bonus Gil is earned after a battle, gil cannot be gained or lost
*within* a battle from Gil Snapper, Steal/Plunder Gil, or treasure chests.
* Enemies killed during Rendezvous Mode are not added to your Kills tally on
the Chronicle screen. I’m assuming this means they also aren’t counted towards
unlocking Dark Knight, but I haven’t confirmed this.
* This isn’t a Rendezvous Mode-specific rule, but it’s worth noting that all of
the multiplayer-exclusive weapons cannot be thrown with the Ninja’s Throw
command.
%%%RENDEZVOUS MODE – TREASURES AND RANKING%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00ren1
After winning a Rendezvous Mode battle, each player will be presented with a
ring of chests, and can open 1 to 5 of them based on your performance during
battle. (No chests are awarded if you lose.) Since these battles are a
cooperative effort, both players will always earn the same number of chests,
even if one player had his/her forces completely wiped out.
The NUMBER of chests you can open is determined by how well you fought. You
can open more chests when you….
1) Deploy fewer characters. Typically, you can deploy up to a total of 3
characters (i.e., one player deploys 1 character and the other deploys
2 characters) and still earn 5 chests, but this may vary a little from
mission to mission.
2) KO more enemies. Some missions don’t require you to KO every enemy, but
KOing more of them will earn you more chests.
3) Do not have any of your own characters get KOed. If characters are KOed
but later revived, this does not appear to penalize you.
The number of turns you take does not seem to be relevant.
The CONTENTS of the chests are determined by different factors:
1) The average level of your characters
2) Most missions have a "cap" on item quality. The tougher the mission, the
better the items you can get.
Note that the QUALITY and QUANTITY of items you receive are determined by
completely different factors! Even a poor performance on the later missions
will earn you a chance at rare items; you just won’t get as *many* of them. On
the other hand, blowing through early missions will not get you unique items,
no matter how efficiently you fight or how high your level is.
—RARE ITEMS IN RENDEZVOUS MODE—
A (probably incomplete) list of RARE items that you can win in Rendezvous Mode
is below. (I haven’t listed items that can also be bought in a store, though
you’ll often get these from the early missions.)
* indicates items that can ONLY be acquired in Rendezvous Mode.
WEAPONS:
Sasuke’s Blade [ninja blade] Ras Algethi [gun]
Nagnarok [sword] Fomalhaut [gun]
Materia Blade [sword] Glacial Gun [gun]
* Moonblade [sword] Blaze Gun [gun]
Defender [knight’s sword] Blaster [gun]
Save the Queen [knight’s sword] Yoichi Bow [bow]
Excalibur [knight’s sword] Perseus Bow [bow]
Ragnarok [knight’s sword] * Sagittarius Bow [bow]
* Durandal [knight’s sword] Faerie Harp [instrument]
Chaos Blade [knight’s sword] Omnilex [book]
Masamune [katana] Holy Lance [polearm]
Chirijiraden [katana] Dragon Whisker [polearm]
Golden Axe [axe] * Gungnir [polearm]
Dragon Rod [rod] Fallingstar Bag [bag]
* Stardust Rod [rod] Wyrmweave Silk [cloth]
* Crown Sceptre [rod] * Deathbringer [fell sword]
* Dreamwaker [staff] * Valhalla [fell sword]
Scorpion Tail [flail]
SHIELDS:
Kaiser Shield * Genji Shield
Venetian Shield * Onion Shield
HEADGEAR:
* Genji Helm [helm] Cachusha [hair adornment]
* Vanguard Helm [helm] Ribbon [hair adornment]
* Brass Coronet [hat]
ARMOR:
Genji Armor [armor] Mirage Vest [clothes]
* Onion Armor [armor] Rubber Suit [clothes]
Ninja Gear [clothes]
ACCESSORIES:
* Gaius Caligae [shoes] Invisibility Cloak [cloak]
* Genji Glove [gauntlet] Sortile’ge [perfume]
* Brigand’s Gloves [gauntlet] Chantage [perfume]
* Sage’s Ring [ring]
Of course, as noted above, not all of these items are available in every
mission. Again, the best items are only found in later missions, and your
characters must have a high level to have a chance of getting them.
In addition, there are also some items that only appear in specific missions:
MISSION ITEMS
The Guarded Temple Grand Armor, Fomalhaut
Nightmares Gungnir, Dreamwaker
Brave Story Crown Sceptre, Sage’s Ring
An Ill Wind Valhalla, Vanguard Helm
(Note that the Fomalhaut isn’t *really* unique to The Guarded Temple, since you
can get it quite easily in Melee Mode. But The Guarded Temple is the only
place the Fomalhaut shows up in Rendezvous Mode.)
—TITLES AND STARS—
In addition to treasures, you will also be awarded a "title" for clearing each
mission. For example, completing the Chocobo Defense mission earns you the
"Defender of the Wild" title. These titles don’t do anything, they’re just for
fun š
Each title comes with a "level" or star rating, on a scale from 1 to 5. The
star rating is simply equal to the number of chests you were awarded at the end
of the battle. In the Tavern, the game tracks your highest star ratings for
each battle, so you can challenge yourself to try to earn 5 stars on every
mission!
%%%RENDEZVOUS MISSION STRATEGIES%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00ren2
—Rendezvous Mission 1: Chocobo Defense—————————————
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Visiting Gariland on the way to the Siedge Weald in
Chapter I
BATTLE MAP: Windflat Mill
YOUR FORCES: 1-3 characters per player, Chocobo [guest] x2
ENEMY FORCES: Squire [male] x4, Chemist [male] x3, Thief [male] x1
The goal in this mission is to defeat all the human enemies while keeping both
of the Chocobos from being KOed. If *either* Chocobo is KOed, you lose.
Both players start on top of the plateau with the Chocobos and the majority of
the enemies below. Player 1 faces away from the windmill, while Player 2 faces
down the stairs. Both players should put their mages, Archers, and Chemists
in the "back row" of their deployment screens and the fighters in the "front."
This will pack the weaker characters in the center, while the physical fighters
protect them from both sides.
Note that if Player 2 deploys any character in his/her two leftmost tiles,
they’ll actually start down on the ground and not on top of the plateau. This
puts them in a bit more danger, but can help you reach the enemies more
quickly. You’ll only want to do this with melee fighters, not rearguard
characters like mages.
Your success in this battle will probably depend a lot on what jobs you’re
using. If your characters are still Squires, this battle may be tough given
the large enemy party. However, if you change your fighters into Knights and
Monks, their superior Physical Attack will allow them to take out each enemy in
just a few hits. The Knight’s ability to equip shields will also be helpful in
this battle, as will the Monk’s Counter ability if you have it.
Black Magick is also quite powerful in this battle and sometimes gives you a
chance to hit more than one enemy at once. If you’re progressed far enough
that you can buy the Flame, Ice, or Thunder Rod (available after the Sand Rat’s
Sietch battle), using one of these rods will make the corresponding elemental
magicks even stronger. Just make sure that the Chocobos don’t get hit in the
effect radius of the magick! Before casting, check the Turn List to make sure
your planned target won’t have a chance to move next to the Chocobos before the
magick goes off.
Archers can also be useful; standing on the top of the plateau will allow them
to target almost the whole battlefield. They can often attack without having
to move, which will get them more turns. However, Black Magicks tend to do a
little more damage and are probably the better choice.
You’ll definitely also want to bring someone with the Items command (or White
Magicks) who can heal the Chocobos. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a full
Chemist so long as you assign the Items command as a second ability — and you
may not *want* to deploy a full Chemist so you can pad your roster with
fighters instead. At any rate, you can use your Items freely; you get them
back after multiplayer battles.
When the battle starts, you’ll want to catch up with the Chocobos as quickly as
possible to protect them. Otherwise, the enemies will gang up on them. Most
of the action tends to take place at the bottom of the cliff, so try to get a
few close-range fighters down there quickly. (Mages and Archers can stay up
top where it’s harder for them to get attacked.) If the enemies aren’t
standing at the side of the plateau, you can jump down fairly easily, or you
can just have Player 2 deploy his/her characters so they *start* down there.
The Squire’s Move +1 ability and the Battle Boots accessory will both increase
your movement range, which helps a lot in this battle.
The Chocobos can use Choco Cure to heal themselves (and you!), but they won’t
*always* do so. They tend to only do it if one of the Chocobos or a human ally
is in critical HP (HP < 20% of max). However, even if a Chocobo isn’t at
critical HP, the enemies may gang up on it and KO it before it DOES have a
chance to heal! That’s where Items comes in handy; heal any Chocobo that has
taken a few hits and is vulnerable to attack. Another tactic: when one of your
characters is at critical HP, move him or her away from the battle. This will
often draw the Chocobo away from the enemies to heal him or her.
Watch out; the Squires may throw stones at the Chocobos even if they can’t
move in range for a physical attack. It doesn’t do much damage but can be
enough to finish off a weakened Chocobo! Keep them healthy.
Another very useful ability is the White Mage’s Protect magick; cast this on
the Chocobos and it will reduce the damage they take from physical attacks.
(Shell, which reduces magick damage, is really not helpful here as it’s
unlikely the enemies will have many magick attacks.) The Chocobos will
sometimes end up standing next to each other and this is a great opportunity to
cast Protect as you can target both Chocobos at once.
The enemies here have pretty generic jobs and few special abilities, there are
a lot of them. You’ll probably want to take out the Thief first since he’s
fast and can steal your equipment–it’s not lost permanently in multiplayer
play, but losing your gear still makes it harder to win! (The Chemist’s
Safeguard ability will also keep your equipment from being stolen.) You’ll
also probably want to defeat the two enemy Chemists early since they can
keep healing the enemies otherwise.
You may also encounter some of the Squires using a powerful second ability,
like Martial Arts. (The specific abilities they have are assigned at random.)
If you spot a Squire using a particularly nasty attack, be sure to KO him
quickly.
Depending on your level, the Thief may have a Blind Knife here. This weapon
can inflict the Blind status on your characters, which makes it easier for
enemies to dodge your attacks. This isn’t as bad as it seems since most of an
enemy’s evasion rate can be nullified by attacking him from behind, even if
you’re Blind. (See Evade Rates under Basic Mechanics and Tactics for more
info.)
On the other hand, if you’re using a shield, it’s not effective against rear
attacks, so try to keep your back protected from attack where possible. You
can use the side of the plateau or enemy bodies to guard your back.
In some cases, you may be able to leave a low-HP enemy for the Chocobos to
finish off, if they’re nearby.
Finally, when attacking the enemy, don’t forget that Zodiac compatibility
affects the damage you do — you’ll do more damage to an enemy with whom you
have good compatibility. When picking the Chemists and Squires to target
first, it can help to go after the enemies with whom you have good
compatibility. You can defeat them more quickly.
While you don’t earn EXP and levels during multiplayer combat, you DO earn JP,
and you can also keep abilities from crystals and items from chests. So, after
you’ve defeated most of the enemies, you may want to hang around and let them
decay into crystals or chests. This is a good way to pick up some extra
abilities, if you don’t mind fighting with your friend over who gets to pick up
the crystals š
If you’re having trouble with this battle, progressing a little further through
Chapter I may help you out as you gain more abilities and can buy useful items
like the elemental rods. Or, team up with a player who’s already further
through the game š
In this and all other Rendezvous Mode battles, you’ll earn more items if you
can win the battle using a smaller party of characters. Of course, this makes
the battle tougher for you. When you’re just starting out, you may want to
stick with a full party; assuming you don’t have any fatalities of your own,
you’ll still earn 3 chests per player. Later, you should have no trouble
reducing your party size and still winning.
TITLE AWARDED: Defender of the Wild
—Rendezvous Mission 2: Chicken Race——————————————
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Start of Chapter II
BATTLE MAP: Tchigolith Fenlands
YOUR FORCES: 1-3 characters per player
ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male, undead) x3, Archer (male, undead) x2,
Black Mage (male, undead) x1, Time Mage (female, undead) x1, Revenant x3
This is the easiest of the Rendezvous Mode battles! Although there are a lot
of enemies, they’re ALL undead. This means that each enemy can be instantly
killed simply by throwing a Phoenix Down at it. And, since items you use in
Rendezvous Mode are restored after battle, you won’t even permanently consume
there!
However, you’ll need your Chemists to be sturdy enough to survive while they
throw Phoenix Downs. There are two good ways to do this: make the Chemist into
a Knight and equip Items and Throw Items, so that you have the Knight’s HP and
armor, but all the item-using abilities of a Chemist. Or, equip a Chemist with
the Knight’s Equip Heavy Armor ability and you can use good armor to boost your
HP. (You can swipe Gaffgarion’s good armor.) If you can’t do either of these,
you could also deploy one character as a healer while the other Chemists fling
Phoenix Down.
Throwing Phoenix Downs at the enemies as they come in range. The Knights and
Black Mage are the most dangerous, so target them first, followed by the
Archers. The Time Mage can be defeated last. Phoenix Downs are your best
weapon since they have a 100% hit rate and KO the enemy no matter how much HP
they have. You’ll need 10 Phoenix Downs between the two players to KO all the
enemies. If you run out, Hi-Potions are also reasonably effective (doing 70 HP
damage); you could also use regular attacks or White Magicks.
When possible, throw Phoenix Downs without moving; you’ll get new turns more
quickly when you don’t move. Sometimes, though, you’ll need to move,
especially if the enemies end up hiding behind plants. If you do need to move,
try to avoid ending your move in the swamp tiles, as doing so will poison you.
And definitely avoid standing in water with a depth of 2, you won’t be able to
take action at all there!
Since the enemies here are undead, some of them may start reviving if the
battle drags on. With 3 Chemists throwing Phoenix Downs, you can probably
finish the battle before too many have the chance to revive, though. The KOed
enemies can simply be redefeated; since they won’t come back with full HP, you
may be able to defeat them with a weaker attacks. Some enemies may crystallize
instead; picking up these crystals is a good way to heal or (in the case of the
human enemies) learn new abilities!
Later in Chapter II, Mustadio will join your team, and he makes this battle
even easier. His Seal Evil ability turns undead enemies to stone, which both
defeats them and prevents from reviving, and when it has a very long range when
combined with his gun.
You can probably clear this battle with a small number of characters.
Completing this battle with just 3 characters total will earn you five stars
and five treasures per player, and it’s not very hard to win even with just 3
Chemists.
TITLE AWARDED: Lionheart
—Rendezvous Mission 3: Treasure Hunt—————————————–
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Start of Chapter II
BATTLE MAP: Dorvauldar Marsh
YOUR FORCES: 1-3 characters per player
ENEMY FORCES: Squire (male) x1, Archer (female) x3, Monk (male) x2,
Thief (male) x2, Thief (female) x1
This mission is a race for the treasure chest on the far side of the map —
whichever team picks it up first (your team or the enemy team) wins.
There are really two ways to play this battle. One is to make a beeline for
the chest and pick it up. If you do this, you’ll only receive a 1-star
ranking (because you didn’t KO any enemies) and each player will get to open
only a single chest from the ring of chests. But the player who grabbed
the chest gets to keep whatever’s inside it, and it’s usually a pretty high
quality item — better than anything you can buy in a store or win from the
item ring at this point in the game.
The other approach is to play this mission like a conventional battle and KO
all the enemies. You’ll get to claim up to 5 chests after the mission this
way, but you won’t get the really good item in the battlefield chest. This
strategy is actually kind of pointless: You can earn items of equal quality
from the Chicken Race mission, and Chicken Race is much easier and faster to
win. The real reason to play this mission is to grab the battlefield chest and
claim the good item inside.
So, the way to go is to forget your ranking and just make a run for the chest.
(Since only one player gets to open the chest, the two players can take turns
being the one to open it.)
To reach the chest quickly, deploy characters with a high Speed and/or Move
rating — Knights, Monk, and Thieves all fit the bill, as do Ninjas if you have
them. Assign a helpful to your movement ability. Teleport is probably the
best, as it lets you move through the enemy units and also gives you a chance
of extending your movement range. Where you don’t have that, Move +1 (or
better) is also quite helpful.
You won’t want to waste time fighting, so focus on equipping your characters to
dodge or survive lots of attacks. Heavy armor is a plus, as are good shields
and cloaks. Good reaction abilities are Archer’s Bane (which will help block
the attacks from the enemy Archers) or Auto-Potion.
Also, you should deploy 3 characters per player. If you’re going for the chest
and not playing for ranking, there’s no reason not to take as many characters
as possible.
During the battle, you’ll just want to run for the chest at the other end of
the map. Don’t attack enemies; if you only Move (and don’t Act), your CT gauge
will fill again more quickly and you can take more turns. If you’re using
Teleport, don’t forget that you can warp through enemy units. You can also try
teleporting 1 or 2 tiles beyond your usual movement range, but beware that
teleporting *too* far is likely to fail.
The watery tiles here are just regular swamp and NOT poisonous fen, so you
don’t have to worry about getting poisoned if you stand in them.
There are a lot of enemies — too many to fight directly, generally — so this
battle is mainly about surviving long enough to reach the other side of the
battlefield and claim the chest. One tactic is to designate one or two fast
characters as your main runners. Have them run for the chest, using only the
Move menu so they get more turns. Meanwhile, other characters can follow up
behind them, healing from a distance (using Throw Items or White Magicks) and
other support abilities such as Protect. Another defensive tactic is to use
characters with Archer’s Bane as defenders; put them in the way of the enemy
Archers to prevent the Archers from hitting the characters running for the
chest. Don’t turn back to revive any downed characters; remember, as long as
one character reaches the chest, you win. Finally, try to keep your front side
towards the bulk of the enemies to maximize your evade rate.
Although the enemy Thieves can steal your equipment, you may not want to block
their steals with Safeguard. If you DON’T have Safeguard, they’ll waste some
of their turns trying to steal your equipment instead of attacking, which helps
keep you alive! (You get your stolen equipment back after the battle in
Rendezvous Mode.) However, a Nu Khai Armband (not for sale until Chapter III)
is helpful for blocking their Steal Heart attack. Since there are Thieves of
both genders here, deploying a single-gender party is not helpful š
Chapter II has a lot of guest characters. They can’t participate in this or
other Rendezvous Mode missions, but you CAN strip them of their equipment and
give it to your main team.
If you DO want to take out all the enemies, be warned that it’s pretty tough
— you’re outnumbered and the enemies have a lot of annoying abilities. Try to
gather your characters into one group quickly. The Thieves are probably the
most dangerous enemies because of their Steal Heart ability, so take them out
first. If you’re planning on fighting, blocking their steals with Safeguard is
a good idea. Also, once you get to Chapter III, a Nu Khai Armband is great for
blocking Steal Heart. If a character DOES get Charmed by Steal Heart, use a
weak attack to knock some sense into him or her. A magick user’s physical
attack or the Squire abilities Rush and Stone are good for removing Charm
without inflicting too much damage.
Watch out for the Monks, too. Although fists only have a range of 1, the Monks
will often have Martial Arts abilities that let them attack at a distance!
(i.e., Aurablast and Shockwave)
Even if you’re planning just to KO all the enemies, you must keep the enemies
from picking up the chest. You’ll especially need to watch out for the male
Thief in the center of the enemy group. He tends to hang back instead of
advancing with the rest of the enemy forces, and in a few turns, he’ll pick up
the chest and cause you to lose the battle. To prevent this, you must advance
quickly and he’ll come forward to fight you instead of chasing after the chest.
As long as you are in range of the enemies, they should fight you instead of
going after the chest (even when they could pick it up in a single move!).
Other useful abilities for taking down all the enemy forces include Archer’s
Bane, Counter, and Defense or Attack Boost. Don’t forget, too, to check your
Zodiac compatibility with the enemies. It helps to attack the enemies with
whom you have high Zodiac compatibility as you can more quickly defeat them —
plus they’re the ones who can do a lot of damage to you!
Once Mustadio joins the party, his Leg Shot ability is quite helpful here as it
allows you to Immobilize enemies in place and keep them from getting to the
chest, and his gun gives him a long range with which to inflict it. Do NOT use
Arm Shot. If you Disable an enemy with Arm Shot, the enemy will drop out of
the main brawl and go back to pick up the chest, causing you to lose!
Again, since you can earn medium-quality items more quickly from Chicken Race,
there’s not too much point in trying to KO all the enemies. (And it’s actually
pretty challenging.) Picking up the chest is the real reward. If you want to
earn 5 stars on this battle just for completeness’ sake, you may have better
luck as you progress through Chapter II and get some of the special story
characters to join your roster.
TITLE AWARD: Retriever
—Rendezvous Mission 4: Teioh————————————————-
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Story Battle 13: Zaland
BATTLE MAP: Araguay Woods
ENEMY FORCES: Teioh [Black Chocobo], Chocobo x4, Red Chocobo x2,
Red Panther x1, Pig x2
The goal of this mission is to defeat Teioh, a Black Chocobo with a ginormous
amount of HP. (Teioh’s specific level and max HP are based on your own levels,
but even at a low level, he’s going to have over 1000 HP.) Teioh is also
accompanied by a gang of other chocobos and some other miscellaneous monsters.
Although you only need to KO Teioh to win the battle, to get a good rank you’ll
need to defeat the other monsters as well. (If you KO only Teioh and no other
monsters, you’ll receive only a single star and single chest!)
The enemy chocobos have some powerful attacks, so come prepared with shields
and cloaks to block them. (The only potential status ailment you’ll face here
is the occasional Poison from the Red Panther’s Poison Fang, so you needn’t
worry about any status-protection accessories.) Auto-Potion is a great
defensive ability here, especially if you buy Hi-Potions (or, later, X-Potions)
and discard all your regular Potions. This will allow you to use Hi-Potions
when you activate Auto-Potion. Counter is also quite useful since you’ll
mostly be hit with close-range attacks and Counter lets you strike the enemy
back. (Do not use First Strike here; it doesn’t work against monsters.)
When deploying your characters, both players should place their characters in
the front row (i.e., the first row in the direction the characters are facing).
Characters placed in the rear will end up on top of the cliff at the back of
the map and have a hard time getting into battle.
Your first target needs to be the Red Chocobos; their Choco Meteor attack does
a lot of damage, has a good range, and is completely unblockable. Concentrate
on chasing them down and defeating them.
The yellow Chocobos can use Choco Cure to heal themselves and other enemies.
This can be a real pain, but the good news is that Chocobos tend not to use
Choco Cure unless they themselves have been injured. So, don’t attack the
yellow Chocobos until you’ve finished off the Red Chocobos, then just attack
one Chocobo at a time. This will minimize the amount of healing they do.
The Pigs and Red Panther are not much of a threat at all, so just ignore them
until you have finished off all the Chocobos. If you have someone with
Counter, you have a pretty good chance of finishing them off just with your
counterattacks. (While Pigs are normally good for poaching rare items, you
can’t poach monsters or recruit them in Rendezvous Mode, so they just function
as weak oppoents here.)
Because all the enemies here are monsters, they can all have a chance of
Countering your melee attacks. You can avoid this by using attacks that hit
from a distance, like spears and the Monk’s Aurablast. Once Agrias joins the
party, her sword techniques will be quite helpful as well. Magick could also
be useful, especially Summons (which will hit many enemies at once), but you’ll
need to shield your mage from enemy attacks. Equip Heavy Armor would be good
for giving a mage enough HP to survive the initial wave of Choco Meteors. The
Dragoon’s Jump attack also lets you escape counterattacks (as long as you
use it at a range of more than a single tile), but can be tricky to use since
the chocobos are all fairly quick and can often move out of the way before you
land the Jump. Only target chocobos that have just moved or that have been
Immobilized.
Position your characters next to each other will limit the number of directions
some of the enemies can attack from you. Since no enemy here has magick that
hits more than one character, there’s no harm in standing next to each other.
Try not to leave enemies standing with critical HP. They’ll usually flee into
a corner of the map, which will make it hard to finish them off before you
fight Teioh.
Once you’ve wiped out all the minor monsters, it’s time to take on Teioh. As
mentioned above, he has a ton of HP, but if you’ve defeated all the other
monsters, you’re pretty safe as he can’t do all that much damage to you (and
his Choco Beak and Choco Pellets attacks can both be blocked). While you’ll
generally want to keep him from attacking your back (since your shields don’t
work against rear attacks), in practice this is pretty tricky since he can fly
over your head. Still, in some cases you can put your back to a tree.
Pretty much any attack is good against Teioh. Ranged attacks are particularly
useful since they won’t allow him to Counter. If you have any attacks that do
damage based on the target’s maximum HP, like the Time Mage’s Gravity and
Graviga, the Mystic’s Invigoration, or the Lich summon, these attacks are quite
useful since they will quickly knock down Teioh’s sizable HP total.
As the battle progresses, many of the defeated monsters will start turning into
crystals. You want to be sure to pick these up before the enemies can; it’s a
real pain if Teioh heals himself. Check the Turn List to see when the enemy
will move and be sure to have a character grab the crystal before any of the
enemies will be available to pick them up. (You can use them to heal yourself
too, but even if you don’t need healing, you’ll want to grab the crystals just
to prevent the enemies from using them.)
When Teioh gets low on HP, he’ll start trying to flee while continuing to shoot
Choco Pellets at you. This is pretty annoying, but you’ll just have to chase
him down and keep hitting him. Again, Immobilizing him, or even hitting him
with Rend Speed to slow him down, will help keep him from getting away.
If you’re having trouble here, this battle is much easier after at least one
player has progressed further through Chapter II and acquired the two story
characters available in this chapter. Agrias’s sword techniques are great for
damaging the monsters without being counterattacked, and Mustadio can use Leg
Shot to inflict Immobilize on Teioh or the other chocobos.
TITLE AWARDED: Chocobo Hunter
—Rendezvous Mission 5: Lost Heirloom—————————————–
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Story Battle 16: Goug Lowtown
BATTLE MAP: Goug Lowtown
YOUR FORCES: 1-2 characters per player
ENEMY FORCES: Knight (female) x2, Archer (male) x3, Time Mage (female) x2,
Thief (male) x3
The enemies here don’t have much in the way of special abilities, but the catch
is that each player is limited to 2 characters. And, to get the highest
possible ranking here, you must only deploy a single character each!
There are three male Thieves here, which puts female characters at a risk for
being Charmed with Steal Heart. This is very bad news when you have such a
small fighting force, so deploying all male characters might be advantageous.
Once you get to Chapter III, you can also buy Nu Khai Armbands to immunize
yourself against Charm.
As with many Rendezvous Mode battles, the emphasis is on physical defense.
This map features Knights and Thieves, and most perniciously, three Archers,
two of whom like to hang out at the back of the map and rain arrows on you.
Equip shields and cloaks to boost your evade rate, and Defense Boost [Mystic]
to reduce the damage you sustain. The Archer’s Bane reaction ability is
particularly well-suited for this map, since it gives you a good chance of
blocking the Archer’s attacks outright. (Shirahadori, which blocks both arrows
and melee attacks, is even better if you have it.) If you don’t have Archer’s
Bane, Auto-Potion makes a good substitute. You could also use Counter — this
won’t improve your defense, of course, but if you already have a good shield
and cloak, Counter is a great way of improving your damage output. Knights
make a good overall choice for this map since they can use shields and heavy
armor and have a good offense as well.
You’ll probably also want a way to restore your HP and revive KOed characters.
Since you have so few characters here, you may not have space for a dedicated
healer, plus Chemists and White Mages will get killed pretty easily here.
Instead, try adding Items or Martial Arts (or even White Magicks) as a
secondary action ability to one of your other characters. Auto-Potion and the
Monk’s Lifefont movement ability are also good for restoring HP over the course
of the battle. If you’ve progressed far enough to steal the Blood Sword, it
can be pretty helpful as it will allow you to regain HP when you attack. (If
you’re tackling this mission much later, though, you won’t want to use it as it
won’t be very strong compared to other weapons and the enemy HP levels.)
Between the Thieves and Knights, there are also a lot of opportunities for your
equipment to be broken or stolen, so Safeguard may be helpful. This is
particularly important for female characters, since losing their Nu Khai
Armbands means they can be Charmed. (Remember, if lose your equipment in
Rendezvous Mode, it IS restored to you after battle, but losing it during the
battle still makes it difficult to win!)
When the battle starts, you’ll want to take out the Time Mages first. If they
get off a Haste, Slow, or Stop spell, this can be big trouble when you’re
already outnumbered. (They may hit you with Gravity magicks as well!) There’s
one on each side of the map, so have each player quickly move foward and KO
one. There’s a good chance that the Time Mages may have the Mana Shield
reaction ability, which allows them to take damage to their MP as a buffer
against your attacks. Draining their MP in this way is pretty much as good as
KOing them since they won’t be able to use magicks, so you can then leave them
be. (Their physical attack can still do SOME damage, but the Thieves and
Knights are a much higher priority.)
For offense, physical-oriented jobs are probably your best bet. Magick tends
not to be so good, since magick-using jobs are at a disadvantage for evading
attacks and are even more vulnerable when charging magicks. The Dragoon’s Jump
attack is particularly useful, since it temporarily removes you from the
battlefield and prevents you from being attacked. (Just watch out for the
slight overhang with the spinning wheel on Player 2’s side of the map. If
you’re standing directly underneath this overhang, you won’t be able to Jump.)
Mustadio will have joined you by the time you get to this mission. His Arm
Shot and Leg Shot abilities can be useful in temporarily taking an enemy out of
play. As a Machinist, he’s probably going to be too weak to survive here, but
you can turn him into a Knight and then equip Aimed Shot as a secondary
ability.
If you have a shield, cloak, and Archer’s Bane, the Archers will really have
quite a low hit rate against you and you won’t need to worry about them too
much. First, take out all the melee fighters on the lower level.
Remember that shields aren’t effective against attacks from the rear, and your
own job’s innate evade rate is not effective against rear nor side attacks.
(Cloaks and Archer’s Bane work at all angles.) So, try to position yourself
after each move so that your back is not vulnerable. You want to avoid turning
your back on the Archers so that you can keep blocking their arrows.
Conversely, try to attack the enemy Knights from the rear so they can’t use
their shields to block your attack. You also won’t want to attack the enemy
Thieves head on, as they have a high evade rate from the front. Of course, the
Concentration support ability [Archer] allows you to circumvent enemy evade
rates.
Enemies that you’ve weakened to critical HP may start to flee towards a corner.
Don’t worry about these guys; they’ve essentially removed themselves from the
battle. Focus on the enemies who are still fighting you.
After you’ve defeated most of the enemies on the ground, you have a good chance
to heal before the final charge to the roof where the Archers usually are. Try
to revive any KOed characters — remember, your star ranking may decrease if
any of your allies have to teleport out of battle.
Although this battle is fairly do-able with four characters, completing it with
just two characters to earn 5 stars can be tough early on. To succeed, you’ll
really need to have the best possible defense; Jump, Safeguard, Lifeont are all
advantageous too. Of course, like all Rendezvous missions, this gets easier as
you go through the game, since better cloaks and shields become available and
your offensive capabilities increase as well.
TITLE AWARDED: Count’s Guard
—Rendezvous Mission 6: The Fete———————————————-
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Start of Chapter III
BATTLE MAP: Lionel Castle Oratory
YOUR FORCES: 1-3 characters per player
ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x2, Monk (female) x2, Bard x3, Dancer x3
You’ll fight a large group of enemies in close quarters here, including a rare
encounter against enemy Bards and Dancers. The two Knights will rush you
first with their Move +2 movement ability, and tend to be quickly followed by
most of the rest of the group.
Depending on your level, the Bards here may have Lamia’s Harps, which sometimes
confuse your characters when they strike. This is bad news if it happens, so
equip Nu Khai Armbands (newly purchasable in the Outfitter) to prevent this.
If you don’t have or can’t afford the Nu Khai Armbands, you can cure confused
characters by hitting them with a weak physical attack. If you’re at a high
enough level, the Bards will just have Bloodstring Harps instead, which drain
HP back to the Bards. While annoying, this is less dangerous to you, and you
can just mop up the Bards after you’ve KOed the real threats.
You’ll face mostly physical attacks here, so a good physical defense is a must.
Use armor to raise your HP, and equip shields to help block physical attacks.
(Note, though, the two Knights always have Concentration, which prevents you
from evading their attack.) If you have the Samurai’s Shirahadori reaction
ability, this battle will be pretty easy as you can block most all the attacks
you’ll face, even the Knights with Concentration. You can still win without
Shirahadori, though; the Chemist’s Auto-Potion is another good reaction
ability for keeping your health up. The Mystic’s Defense Boost support ability
is also helpful. Finally, you could try the Golem summon to absorb some of the
physical attacks, but you’re being bombarded with so many attacks that the
Golem effect is likely to wear off too quickly to be much help.
The Chemist’s Safeguard support ability can also be somewhat helpful here since
it prevents the Knights from breaking your gear. That said, Defense Boost is
probably the better choice if avaialble.
Since you won’t be hit with magick, this is one battle where it helps to
place your characters next to each other. This minimizes the number of
directions from which the enemies can attack each character. As the battle
progresses, you can also stand next to the bodies of KO enemies to block off
more lines of attack. In addition, if you mostly stay put in this formation
and attack enemies as they come to you, you can get more turns as you won’t
need to use up CT by moving.
Your best offense here is probably Summons. Since you’re crowded into such a
small space, they will hit lots of targets, and they won’t damage your own
allies. Use a strong summon, or pair one of the initial three elemental
summons (Ifrit, Shiva, and Ramuh) with a Flame, Ice, or Lightning Rod for extra
damage. The Moogle and Faerie summons can also be used for emergency healing.
Black Magick can work too, but will hit fewer targets and can also damage your
allies. Either way, Chakra is quite useful for recovering your MP — you can
give this to the Summoner, or have an adjacent character use it. (The latter
is probably better since it allows the Summoner to spend all his/her turns
casting Summons.) You’ll also need to protect your magick-user since they
tend to be pretty fragile. Giving the caster a shield or heavy armor can help
somewhat, but remember that shields are no good against the Knights and their
Concentration ability. The best tactic is to put your magick-user in the "back
row," behind characters with a better defense. These characters can block the
enemy from getting to your Summoner and absorb some of the hits while your
Summoner blasts away at the enemies with magick.
Other good attacks include sword techniques (especially Hallowed Bolt and
Divine Ruination) and the Monk’s Shockwave. All the Bards and Dancers have the
Defense Boost support ability, which automatically reduces the damage they take
from all physical attacks, including things like sword techniques and Jump.
You can still use these attacks, of course, but magick is going to be the most
effective. Ranged weapons tend not to be useful here; since the enemies are
close to you anyway, the long range doesn’t help you much, and you’ll want the
higher attack power of a close-range weapon.
The Knights are probably your first target since their Concentration ability
makes their attacks largely unblockable. After that, you’ll want to go after
the Monks, who always have the Items ability and can heal other allies. Watch
out, though — the Knights have Counter, and the Monks have the First Strike
reaction ability, which allows them to cancel direct physical attacks and hit
you instead if you attack them from an adjacent tile. To avoid these
counterattacks, don’t use direct physical attacks, but target the enemies with
magick, Jump, sword techniques, or other ranged abilities like the Monk’s
Aurablast and Shockwave. (You can also use a plain physical attack if you’re
attacking from a distance, like with a bow or polearm.) Note that the Monks
are also always given the Equip Heavy Armor ability, which gives them a fair
amount of HP.
The Dancers and Bards are less of a priority to defeat (especially the Bards),
but ANY enemies you can defeat early on will help relieve some of the pressure
on you.
Both the Monks have Items and can use Phoenix Downs to revive KOed allies;
other enemies may also be randomly assigned the Items ability. If you’re using
Summons, this isn’t too much of a problem; the revived enemies will come back
with only minimal HP and will be wiped down the next time you cast a Summon.
Otherwise, try to pick off these weak enemies before they get healed back to
full HP.
One last caution: it’s likely that at least one of the enemies will have the
Geomancy ability, and will use the Contortion ability from the back of the
battlefield. While this attack won’t do much damage, it has a chance of
turning you to Stone, so bring an ability that can cure this status, like
Purification [Monk], Esuna [White Mage], or Gold Needle [Chemist]. Or, if your
levels are high enough that the Bards have Bloodstring Harps, you won’t need
a Nu Khai Armband to protect against Confusion, so you can equip a Jade Armlet
to protect yourself against Stone. (However, if the Bards are still using
Lamia’s Harps, the Nu Khai Armband is more important.)
For this battle, it doesn’t matter who is player 1 and player 2 since you start
in identical positions relative to the enemy.
TITLE AWARDED: Lord of the Night
—Rendezvous Mission 7: Desert Minefield————————————–
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Story Battle 26: Monastery Vaults – First Level
BATTLE MAP: Zeklaus Desert
YOUR FORCES: 1-2 characters per player, Govis
ENEMY FORCES: Bomb x2, Grenade x4, Exploder x5
GUEST: Govis – Chemist – random Bravery and Faith values
Equipment : No weapon, random other equipment
Abilities : Items, random other abilities
This mission is an escort mission. You lose if Govis, the guest Chemist, is
KOed. You win when Govis reaches the far side of the map, or if you KO all 11
enemy bombs. KOing as many of the bombs as possible will earn you a higher
star rating (and hence more chests) at the end of the battle, so that’s the way
to go.
Unfortunately, Govis is a bit of a hazard to himself. He likes to charge right
at the bombs and attack them with his bare hands, which tends to get him
counterattacked and KOed. The best remedy is to bring Mustadio (or, later,
Balthier) and have him use Leg Shot to Immobilize Govis at the start of the
battle. (Player 1 starts directly behind Govis and has a clear shot for this.)
Your odds of successfully Immobilizing Govis depend in part on Govis’s random
Zodiac sign and its compatibility with Mustadio’s, so there’s some luck
involved here. Putting Immobilize on Govis will keep from charging forward,
and he should be pretty safe. Immobilize will wear off after a few turns,
though, so prepared to use it again. If Govis does manage to move forward,
he’ll be in danger. Quickly move some characters between him and the enemies
to shield him. (You could also put Govis to sleep, which lasts longer, but
this has the disadvantage of making him more susceptible to attack if the bombs
DO reach him.)
It’s probably a good idea to bring someone with healing abilities who can heal
Govis, just in case. Mustadio can double with this role if you switch him to a
Chemist (and then assign Aimed Shot as his second abilitiy). Don’t be shy with
your items; you get them all back after the end of the battle, anyway.
Don’t underestimate the bombs. There are a lot of them, and they come at you
quickly. You may be more successful if you generally let them come to you
instead of charging them. This will keep you from getting surrounded.
Equipping Flame Shields here is quite helpful as it allows you to actually
absorb the damage from the Exploders’ Spark attacks. In general, a good
physical defense is important here since the bombs use mostly physical attacks.
Shields, cloaks, and Parry will help you avoid their attacks — and Shirahadori
is even better, if you’ve already obtained that. Auto-Potion is also quite
useful, especially since you don’t really use up potions in Rendezvous Mode.
Where possible, put your back against a cactus, so the bombs can only attack
you from the side or front, which allows you to use your shield.
For attacking the bombs, Agrias’s sword techniques are always good as they
can’t be counterattacked, do high damage, and can often target more than one
enemy at a time. (Or, if you’re only able to attack a single bomb, use
Northswain’s Strike, which has a chance of instantly KOing its target.) If you
want to use Black Magick, note that the Bombs absorb fire and halve damage from
ice, so use Thunder spells only. The same goes for Summons and weapons; be
sure to avoid the Icebrand sword. (Note that the Icebrand sword will turn even
your sword techniques into ice-elemental attacks!) If you happen to have the
Leviathan summon, it will do a lot of damage since the bombs are all weak to
water.
Finally, you could try using Orator skills (Entice or Tame) to recruit one or
more bombs to your side. This can help even out the enemy’s numerical
advantage, but it has pretty low odds of succeeding.
Of the three kinds of bombs, the Grenades are the most dangerous. Their
Bomblet attack does a lot of damage and is non-elemental, so the Flame Shield
won’t protect against it. Take out the Grenades first, and try to get rid of
them before the Exploders reach you.
Once the Exploders join the fray, they’ll start using their Spark ability,
which heals any nearby bombs and also damages any characters who aren’t
protected with a Flame Shield. This can get quite annoying if the Exploders
get into a big group because the Exploders will just keep healing each other
and you won’t be able to defeat any of them. Attack one of the Exploders at a
time until you KO them. You can also try to use your characters to block the
Exploders from reaching each other, or draw them apart into separate groups.
This will reduce their ability to keep healing themselves. Another alternative
is to use abilities like Arm Shot or Mystic Arts to take away the Exploders’
ability to act.
Be careful about leaving any bomb in a low-HP state. It may use Self-Destruct,
which will do sizable damage to a wide range and has a good chance of killing
Govis.
To earn a five-star rating on this battle, you must deploy only a single
character per player, and you must KO all the bombs. This can be quite
difficult, especially when this mission is first unlocked, since you have to
juggle defeating the bombs with healing Govis and preventing him from reaching
the finish line. You’ll probably want to have one character do the fighting
while another character heals and Immobilizes Govis, but it will be tricky if
you’re not able to easily take out the Exploders.
TITLE AWARDED: Bombslayer
—Rendezvous Mission 8: Littering———————————————
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Story Battle 29: Yardrow
BATTLE MAP: Gollund
YOUR FORCES: 1-3 characters per player
ENEMY FORCES: Ninja (male) x 5, Ninja (female) x5
This is a battle against a squad of ten enemy Ninjas. The Ninjas are extremely
fast and, unless you have an auto-Haste item, it’s likely that all of them will
be able to attack before you can even move. Even if you make your own
characters into Ninjas, the enemies can probably move first because of their
superior level-up history.
So, surviving against the initial onslaught is your first priority. Equip
armor that will boost your HP as high as possible (Equip Heavy Armor may be
useful). Use shields and cloaks to boost your evade rate.
The Thief’s Sticky Fingers ability is pretty much made for this battle. When
activated, it not only blocks the Ninja’s Throw attacks, but adds the thrown
item to your own inventory! Of course, like most Reaction Abilities, it is
dependent on your Bravery and doesn’t always activate.) And, if you don’t
already have it, it costs only 200 JP to acquire. Actually, if you have them,
Shirahadori (Samurai) or Reflexes (Ninja) are even better as they will help you
against even the Ninjas’ regular physical attacks as well as the throws. (They
won’t allow you to keep the thrown items, though.) Auto-Potion is also
extremely helpful, especially if you throw away your regular Potions and/or
Hi-Potions first so you can just use more effective potions.
Teleport and Ignore Elevation can also be helpful for making it easier to get
atop the roof tiles where some of the Ninjas may be, but they’re not really
necessary.
Player 1 starts battling the female Ninjas and Player 2 start battling the male
Ninjas. For the most part, this doesn’t really matter. However, there’s a
chance that the Ninjas will randomly be assigned the Steal Heart ability, which
lets them Charm targets of the opposite sex. Just in case, have the player
with more female characters be Player 1 and the player with more male
characters be Player 2.
At the start of the battle, focus on cutting down a few Ninjas as fast as
possible so you’re not so outnumbered. Strong physical attacks are useful.
Target those Ninjas with whom you have good Zodiac compatibility as you may be
able to defeat them in a single strike. (Fortunately, Ninjas are pretty
fragile.) Mustadio’s Arm Shot ability is also quite useful; Disabling the
Ninjas keeps them out of your hair for a few turns. Leg Shot isn’t too useful
because even if the Ninjas can’t move, they can still throw things at you.
Because it’s snowing, ice-based attacks will be powerful. This might include
Luso’s Icebrand sword, as well as magicks like Blizzard and Shiva. Equip an
Ice Rod on any magick users to make their ice magick even stronger.
Be careful using Aim and especially Jump here; the Ninjas are so fast that
you’ll need to make sure the attack can execute before the Ninjas can move out
of the way.
If you’re already into Chapter IV and have acquired some of the sidequests
characters, they may be useful here. Balthier is basically a stronger Mustadio
and Beowulf’s Disable, Break, and Chicken abilities can be used to quickly stop
some of the enemy Ninjas.
Although deploying a small number of characters will earn you the most chests
after battle (as always), you may find it more profitable to bring in a lot of
characters with Sticky Fingers and waltz through the battle, collecting as many
weaponas you can. You can get a lot of good weapons this way! This battle is
also great for Ninjas of your own; picking up the crystals the enemy Ninjas
leave will net you many Ninja abilities quickly.
Once you hit level 90+, the enemy Ninjas will start throwing rare weapons that
you can’t buy in stores. Come back to this battle and you can use it to easily
collect multiple Chaos Blades, Javelin IIs, and so forth. This is a fantastic
weapon to get lots of rare weapons. Just raise your Bravery up and catch away!
The highest-level enemy Ninjas will throw the best weapons.
In general, one trick for catching lots of items is to wipe out most of the
enemy Ninjas, then Immobilize the remaining one(s). Stand at a distance and
the Ninjas will have no choice but to throw weapons, which you can then catch!
Unfortunately, this doesn’t work later in the game, when the Ninjas will all
have Thief’s Caps that protect them from Immobilize; instead, just run from
them and stay out of their immediate attack range so theyy’ll use Throw
instead.
TITLE AWARDED: Gatherer
—Rendezvous Mission 9: Shades of the Past————————————
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Start of Chapter IV
BATTLE MAP: Brigands’ Den
YOUR FORCES: 1-3 characters per player
ENEMY FORCES: Milleuda, Knight (male) x5, Archer (male) x2,
White Mage (female) x2
ENEMY: Milleuda [Aquarius] – Knight – Bravery 65, Faith 65
Equipment : Defender, Crystal Shield, Crystal Helm, Crystal Mail, Chantage
Abilities : Arts of War, White Magicks, Parry, Safeguard, Move +1
There are a lot of enemies here, but they all have pretty weak jobs that are
mostly limited to physical attacks. If you bring a good defense against
physical attacks — a good shield and Shirahadori or especially First Strike —
you’ll be practically invulnerable.
The Teleport or Ignore Elevation movement abilities may also be helpful. The
enemies sometimes climb up atop the fort and stay there, and it can be
difficult to chase after them. A Jump attack with a high horizontal and
vertical range would also work.
Milleuda’s Chantage will keep reviving her if she gets KOed, and she has
Safeguard, so you can’t steal or break the Chantage. This means that the only
way to get rid of her is to first KO all the other enemies, and *then* finish
her off. (You could soften her up with other attacks beforehand, though
there’s not much point.)
The enemy has a number of characters who can heal the other enemies. These
include both of the White Mages, as well as Milleuda, who casts Arise. You’ll
want to stop them first. Even though Milleuda has Chantage, you can stop her
White Magick by using Orlandeau’s Duskblade or a Dark Knight’s Infernal Strike
to wipe out her MP. (You can also just KO her when she starts casting Arise;
she’ll bounce back, but the spell will be canceled.) The White Mages are
pretty easy to take out, but be aware of their reaction abilities: the Mage
that starts on the right side of the fort (from your viewpoint) has Magick
Counter, and the one on the left side has Soulbind, which bounces half the
damage you do back onto you. Neither of these abilities are really that
dangerous, though, especailly because you may be able to defeat the Mages in a
single strike anyway.
Both of the White Mages also have Sortile’ge perfumes you could steal if you
want.
Milleuda’s Parry will block physical attacks, but Jump and sword techniques
will crack through her defenses, or you can just attack her from behind. (Note
that for some reason she’s now an Aquarius, even though she was a Virgo in the
single-player game.)
Since having a good physical defense will make you practically invincible here,
this is a great battle to deploy just a single character per player to maximize
your item haul.
TITLE AWARDED: Exorcist
—Rendezvous Mission 10: The Knights Templar———————————-
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Story Battle 41: Fort Besselat Sluice
BATTLE MAP: Mullonde Cathedral Nave
YOUR FORCES: 1-3 characters per player
ENEMY FORCES:
1ST BATTLE: Isilud, Wiegraf, Squire (male) x4, Archer (male) x4
2ND BATTLE: Cletienne, White Mage (female) x2, Black Mage (female) x2,
Time Mage (female) x2, Summoner (female) x3
3RD BATTLE: Barich, Chemist (male) x5, Orator (male) x4
4TH BATTLE: Folmarv [Divine Knight; Leo], Loffrey [Divine Knight; Capricorn],
Knight (male) x3, White Mage (male) x2, Dragoon (male) x2
ENEMY: Isilud [Gemini] – Nightblade – Bravery 73, Faith 63
Equipment : Defender, random other equipment
Abilities : Arts of War, random other abilities
ENEMY: Wiegraf [Virgo] – White Knight – Bravery 71, Faith 64
Equipment : Save the Queen, random other equipment
Abilities : Holy Sword, random other abilities
ENEMY: Cletienne [Gemini] – Sorceror – Bravery 51, Faith 81
Equipment : Wizard’s Rod, random other equipment
Abilities : Magicks, random other abilities
ENEMY: Barich [Sagittarius] – Machinist – Bravery 64, Faith 62
Equipment : Blaster, random other equipment
Abilities : Aimed Shot, Safeguard, random other abilities
This mission occurs in four successive "trials," with each trial pitting you
against some of the Knights Templar plus a lot of generic enemies with themed
jobs. This works a little differently from anything in the single-player game,
in that you jump directly from one battle to the next, with no chance to heal
or change equipment. (However, any status ailments you have will be cured,
and broken equipment will be restored.)
Unlike the multiphase Lucavi battles in the single-player game, any "buffs" you
cast on yourself do not carry over from one battle to the next, so using Focus
or Tailwind a lot during the first battle will not help you with the later ones
š . Any crystals and chests are also erased from the battlefield between
battles, so if you see something you want to grab, be sure to pick it up before
the battle ends!
In each trial, you must defeat all the enemies (not just the Knights Templar)
to advance to the next one.
Because there’s four battles here, it’s advisable to equip your characters for
the long haul. You’ll need abilities to heal yourself with, like Items or an
attack that drains HP (such as the Dark Knight’s Sanguine Sword or Orlandeau’s
Shadowblade). Protection against Immobilize or Disable is also important; you
can get this from equipping a Guardian Bracelet or Thief’s Cap. Shirahadori
and a high Bravery is also quite useful for blocking enemy attacks. Finally,
Safeguard will be helpful in stopping the Unyielding Blade attacks used in the
fourth trial.
—BATTLE 1—
The first round pits you against Wiegraf and Isilud, plus some Squires and
Archers. The Squires all start in a plus-shaped formation and can be easily
hit with an area-effect attack like Hallowed Bolt or Black Magick at the
beginning of the battle. They’re actually mostly harmless, so if there’s any
left standing after your initial attack, you may want to leave them be and
concentrate on the other enemies. Wiegraf is probably the toughest enemy here.
(Isilud no longer has his super-powered Jump attack that he used in Orbonne
Monastery, so he isn’t much of a threat.) The enemies often get pretty bunched
up, so attacks that can hit a group are useful!
Before you finish off the last enemy, you may want to stop and heal yourself
since you will not otherwise be healed between battles.
—BATTLE 2—
When all the enemies in the first trial are KOed, you’ll fade to the second
trial. This one includes Cletienne and a slew of magick users. If you move
forward quickly, you can probably take out both Black Mages with a group attack
before they can do anything. The "cone" attack pattern of the Dark Knight’s
Abyssal Blade is especially powerful here; if you move forward and use it
immediately, you can strike a huge swath of the enemy forces. In general, the
enemies in this trial are even more apt to get into large groups, so take
advantage of this by hitting them with area-effect attacks.
If you take out the Black Mages and then the Summoners, the enemies won’t be
able to hurt you much. They’ll keep healing themselves and casting buffs,
which is *annoying*, but they can’t really hurt you and you can quickly re-KO
any enemies that get revived.
Since the enemies here typically know a lot of magick, this can also be a
decent opportunity to learn some magick abilities if you let the enemies decay
into crystals after being KOed. Use Duskblade, Infernal Strike, or Rend MP to
steal all the MP from the last enemy and you’re pretty much free to let the
other enemies decay. Just be sure to pick up the crystals before this trial
ends, since they’ll disappear when Trial 3 starts.
—BATTLE 3—
The third trial is probably the trickiest. You’re fighting ten gun-wielders —
Barich, 5 Chemists, and 4 Orators — and they start so spread out that you can
only attack one at a time. Actually, if you have Shirahadori and a good
Bravery, this isn’t too bad because you can block even gun attacks with
Shirahadori and they won’t be able to hurt you. If you don’t have Shirahadori,
at least equip something to boost your elemental defense (since many of the
enemies have magick guns). A Venetian or Reverie Shield, White or Sage’s Robe,
or Minerva Bustier all work great for this purpose, and even a Flame Shield can
work in a pinch, although it’s not quite as effective. (The Ice Shield is not
a good idea since it also renders you weak to the lightning attacks from the
Blaster guns.)
Barich is the real threat here, since he can inflict Immobilize and Disable
from a distance. If you don’t have any defense against Immobilize or Disable,
you’ll need to take him out immediately. (Being Disabled also keeps you from
using Shirahadori to defend yourself!) This whole trial is pretty annoying
since the enemies keep using items to heal and revive each other.
—BATTLE 4—
Finally, the fourth trial features Folmarv and Loffrey and an assortment of
Knights, Dragoons, and White Mages. Folmarv and Loffrey have been upgraded to
??? HP status, meaning it will take a lot of damage to defeat them. However,
if you have Safeguard, they can’t use their Unyielding Blade techniques. They
can use their other Action Ability (which is randomly assigned) as a backup,
but most of these aren’t too bad.)
Move forward and quickly attack the three Knights with a group attack. You’ll
probably want to target the Dragoons next. The Dragoons have a habit of moving
as far from you as possible and launching Jump attacks from there, so attacking
them before they can move too far is helpful. (Of course, if you have your own
Jump attack, it’s no problem.) The White Mages tend not to actually have much
in the way of magick, so you may want to save them for last. Note that Folmarv
and Loffrey have Safeguard, so Unyielding Blade is not effective against them.
Completing this battle earns you an invitation to the Knights Templar! Too
bad Ramza turns it down š
TITLE AWARDED: Templar’s Apprentice
—Rendezvous Mission 11: All-Star Melee—————————————
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Story Battle 52: Mullonde Cathedral Sanctuary
BATTLE MAP: Gariland
YOUR FORCES: 1-3 characters per player
ENEMY FORCES: Ramza, Mustadio, Agrias, Rapha, Marach, Beowulf, Reis, Orlandeau,
Meliadoul
ENEMY: Ramza [Capricorn] – Knight – Bravery 70, Faith 70
Equipment : Ragnarok, Venetian Shield, Crystal Helm, Crystal Mail,
Guardian Bracelet
Abilities : Arts of War, Items, First Strike, Safeguard, Move +3
ENEMY: Mustadio [Libra] – Machinist – Bravery 60, Faith 62
Equipment : Blaster, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, Japa Mala
Abilities : Aimed Shot, Arts of War, Soulbind, Defense Boost, Move +3
ENEMY: Agrias [Cancer] – Holy Knight – Bravery 71, Faith 63
Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Shield, Crystal Helm, Crystal Armor, Ribbon
Abilities : Holy Sword, White Magicks, Shirahadori, Safeguard, Move +2
ENEMY: Rapha [Pisces] – Skyseer – Bravery 31, Faith 69
Equipment : Eight-fluted Pole, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, Septie`me
Abilities : Sky Mantra, White Magicks, Soulbind, Swiftness, Move +2
ENEMY: Marach [Gemini] – Netherseer – Bravery 69, Faith 31
Equipment : Eight-fluted Pole, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, Japa Mala
Abilities : Nether Mantra, Items, Soulbind, Swiftness, Manafont
ENEMY: Beowulf [Libra] – Templar – Bravery 45, Faith 65
Equipment : Ragnarok, Crystal Shield, Crystal Helm, Crystal Armor, Angel Ring
Abilities : Spellblade, Martial Arts, First Strike, Safeguard, Move +3
ENEMY: Reis [Pisces] – Dragonkin – Bravery 62, Faith 64
Equipment : Cachusha, Septie`me
Abilities : Dragon, White Magicks, First Strike, Brawler, Move +2
ENEMY: Orlandeau [Scorpio] – Sword Saint – Bravery 77, Faith 65
Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Shield, Crystal Helm, Crystal Armor, Japa Mala
Abilities : Swordplay, Iaido, Mana Shield, Safeguard, Manafont
ENEMY: Meliadoul [Capricorn] – Divine Knight – Bravery 67, Faith 78
Equipment : Defender, Crystal Shield, Crystal Helm, Crystal Armor, Septie`me
Abilities : Unyielding Blade, Items, Shirahadori, Attack Boost, Lifefont
This is a battle against many of your own story characters–or at least some
very accurate impostors. Your doppelgangers have mastered many of the game’s
most advanced abilities and techniques, making this a tough battle. On the
bright side, all of them just have regular HP totals.
Orlandeau, Mustadio, and Meliadoul love to break your equipment, so you’ll
want to equip Safeguard. (Or, you can deploy Balthier as a Sky Pirate, since
this job has an innate Safeguard.) Even though any broken equipment is
returned to you at the end of the battle in Rendezvous Mode, having your gear
broken during the fight will make it tough to win.
You’ll also need protection against Mustadio’s Immobilize and Disable attacks;
a Thief’s Cap, Guardian Bracelet, or Ribbon will take care of this. The Ribbon
is particularly helpful as it negates all of the other status ailments that
Beowulf will try to throw you.
Shirahadori and First Strike are not that helpful here since they won’t protect
you from the special job techniques used by the enemy. Instead, Mana Shield
and Manafont is probably your best best.
Finally, be aware that the clones’ Zodiac signs often match up poorly with some
of your story characters’. A quick guide to a few of the key characters you
may be using:
GOOD AGAINST THESE ENEMIES: BAD AGAINST THESE ENEMIES:
Agrias Ramza, Rapha, Reis, Orlandeau Mustadio, Beowulf, Meliadoul
Beowulf Marach Ramza, Agrias, Meliadoul
Reis Agrias, Orlandeau Marach
Balthier No one Orlandeau
Orlandeau Agrias, Marach, Reis No one
Meliadoul No one Mustadio, Agrias, Beowulf
In summary, Beowulf and Meliadoul have bad comptability and are less useful
here — plus many of the enemies have Safeguard and are protected against
Meliadoul’s Unyielding Blade attacks anyway. Orlandeau and Reis have
advantageous compatibility. Agrias is a mixed bag, so if you use her, make
sure you supplement her with another character or two with a different sign.
Player 1 has it especially tough as his/her team starts near Orlandeau, Reis,
and Mustadio, who will immediately attack Player 1’s team. Attacking with HP-
draining attacks like Sanguine Sword [Dark Knight], Orlandeau’s Shadowblade,
are useful since they let you damage while still recovering HP. If you’re
trying to complete this battle with a small number of characters, be sure to
equip Player 1 as defensively as possible. You may have to resort to giving
Player 1 items that yield a permanent Reraise (e.g. Chantage or Brave Suit) and
letting him/her get KOed and regenerate. If you use this strategy, Player 2
will need to play as defensively as possible since if s/he gets KOed too, you
lose!
If you’re not fully equipped with Ribbons, Beowulf should probably be your
first target, since he can inflict all kinds of status ailments on you. Note
that his Angel Ring lets him Reraise once after you KO him, so be prepared to
KO him a second time shortly after you take him out once.
Reis, Agrias, and Orlandeau are the next characters you’ll want to attack.
Reis and particularly Agrias can be taken out fairly quickly. The enemy
Orlandeau has unfortunately figured out the Mana Shield/Manafont combo, which
means it will definitely take several attacks to KO him. So even though
Orlandeau is the biggest threat, you may want to first KO a few of the other
enemies (like Reis and Agrias), just to quickly reduce the number attacking you
at one time.
If you have Safeguard, Meliadoul is reduced to just using physical attacks.
Ramza is a Knight in this battle and also pretty much just uses physical
attacks. You can worry about them later. Rapha and Marach are as irrelevant
in this battle as in most of the game, so finish them off last.
Climbing up on the roofs can be somewhat helpful, as long as you have attacks
you can use from there up. While the roof won’t help you escape the sword
techniques (which have infinite vertical range), it at least makes it harder
for Meliadoul, Ramza, and Reis to attack you.
Note that if one of the enemies gets lowered to critical HP, he or she may just
run into the corner. It’s pretty safe to ignore such enemies and save them for
last. They’re not going to attack you, so focus your attacks on the enemies
who are still a threat.
Three of the enemies — the Rapha, Marach, and Mustadio clones — have
Soulbind. This tends not to be too much of a problem, since you may be able to
KO them in a single attack anyway. Plus, they’re the weaker enemies, so you
can save them to KO later.
Finally, a number of the clones (Ramza, Marach, and Meliadoul) can use Items as
a command. In practice, this isn’t too bad since they mostly will just use
regular Potions on themselves, which is about the least threatening action
possible. They also don’t have Throw Items, so they can’t heal anyone from a
distance. However, they may sometimes revive KOed allies with a Phoenix Down.
If this happens, you can use an area-effect attack to KO the character again
*and* hit the Items-user. (Since they don’t have Throw Items, they’ll have
to stand in a tile adjacent to the downed tile to use the Phoenix Down.)
Although the clones have a lot of good equipment, most of it is protected with
Safeguard and so there’s not actually much you can claim. You’re limited to
Meliadoul’s Defender, Reis’s Cachusha and Septie`me, Mustadio’s Blaster, and
Rapha’s Septie`me.
TITLE AWARDED: Performer
——————————————————————————-
The following four missions are only available after completing the main quest
of the single-player game. After the ending, the game will add an additional
"flag" to your save directory that makes these missions accessible. Load up a
save from before you entered the final sequences of a battle, go to a Tavern,
and you’ll see the last missions.
You will NOT be able to access these missions if your only save is in the
final sequence of battles š — you need to be able to get to a Tavern.
—Rendezvous Mission 12: The Guarded Temple———————————–
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Completing single-player game and Nelveska Temple quest
BATTLE MAP: Nelveska Temple
YOUR FORCES: 1-3 characters per player
ENEMY FORCES: Construct 2 [Automaton] x1, Construct 3 [Automaton] x7,
Protoconstruct [Automaton] x2
You must defeat all ten Automatons before they self-destruct and destroy the
temple. This battle really centers around the two Protoconstructs, both of
whom start atop the temple. They control the countdown; every time one of gets
another turn, the countdown ticks down one "minute" from 10. If the countdown
drops to 0, the Automatons explode and you lose. The countdown can only be
stopped by defeating at least one of the Protoconstructs. (Since they take
turns counting down, defeating one will stop the whole process.) To make
things more tricky, on the turn when the countdown is "supposed" to go to 8,
the Automatons experience a "system error" and it jumps all the way down to 4.
This means that you must defeat at least one Protoconstruct within the time it
takes for the Protoconstructs to get 7 turns.
Unfortunately, taking them out isn’t easy since both Protoconstructs have
tremendous amounts of HP. If you’re at level 90+, they will have several
thousand. Plus, there are 8 other Automatons as well.
On the bright side, you may bring up to FOUR characters into battle (combined
across the two players) and still receive a 5-star ranking! And you will need
all four š
Sword techniques are your weapon of choice here, so you’ll want to have each
player deploy Agrias and Orlandeau (or possibly Meliadoul). You’ll need to
maximize both your speed and attack power. Use the Tynar Rouge (for
Agrias/Meliadoul) or the Brigand’s Gloves (for Orlandeau) to give them a
permanent Haste, and add a Move +x ability to increase your mobility across the
map. To maximize your attack power, equip them with Chaos Blades and either
Vehemence [Dark Knight] or Attack Boost [Geomancer] as a support ability.
(If you have it, Vehemence is probably best as it will give you the bigger
attack boost. It does lower your defense, but this is one battle where the
best defense is a good offense š — if you can smash the regular Constructs
quickly, you have far fewer sources of damage to contend with.)
Since you’ll need to focus on offense, you won’t have much time for healing.
Equip your best armor and helms to boost your starting HP as high as possible.
You’ll face no status attacks here, so Ribbons are unnecessary. Chaos Blades
will also help you a little by giving you a permanent Regen. Potentially, you
could also use Sanguine Sword or Shadowblade to drain HP during the battle,
although you don’t want to be doing this too often — it’s not as strong an
attack as some others, and can only strike one enemy at a time. If you have a
Brave Suit (from Melee Mode) or Grand Armor (from a previous victory here), you
will definitely want to use those as they give you a permanent Reraise and you
don’t have to worry about your HP at all.
There aren’t really any especially great reaction abilities here, since NOTHING
can block the Dispose laser attack. Instead, use abilities that can boost your
stats. The Archer’s Adrenaline Rush will increase your speed every time you
get hit, allowing you even more turns. For female characters, Fury [Dancer]
could also be a good choice, as it will allow you to increase your attack power
even higher.
If you’re having trouble surviving, you can use Mana Shield and Manafont,
though this will require you to give up any other movement ability. You can
also swap Vehemence out for Attack Boost (which doesn’t lower your defense) if
you have low HP. Finally, you could add Dragonheart as a reaction ability if
you don’t have a permanent Reraise, though this is of no help against any
attack strong enough to KO you in one blow since you never get a chance to cast
the Reraise.
If one player has a somewhat stronger team, you’ll want to make that player
Player 2 since Player 2 starts a little closer to the stairs and the
Protoconstructs.
OK, enough preparation. Onto the battle!
When you start out, rush forward and attack the Constructs on the ground with
Hallowed Bolt and Divine Ruination. You should be able to defeat each one in
one or two hits. Try to aim your attacks so you can hit as many as possible at
one time. (In addition to using Hallowed Bolt, you can also move into the
enemy ranks and fire Divine Ruinations parallel to the front of the temple.
This is often a great targeting strategy for hitting 2 or 3 Constructs.) As
each character takes his or her turn, move them as far towards the stairs as
you can while still attacking the Constructs. Essentially, you want to "sweep"
across the front of the temple, taking out the Constructs from left to right
and moving towards the stairs.
You should be able to defeat most of the Constructs before more than a handful
of them move. Quickly mop up the remaining ones as you head for the stairs.
If you do need healing, you can use Shadowblade or Sanguine Sword to finish off
any remaining Constructs and sap their HP.
If you weaken one of the Constructs, it may just run and hide in the corner.
Leave it — it’s harmless and not worth chasing after when you need to defeat
the Protoconstructs ASAP.
Once you reach the Protoconstructs, concentrate all your attacks on one of the
two. Once you defeat one Protoconstruct, the countdown should stop and you’re
home free!
Attack the Protoconstructs with Divine Ruination and Crush Armor, both of
which do identical amounts of damage to monster targets. When available,
Divine Ruination is slightly preferred as it is has a chance of Confusing the
Protoconstructs, who are NOT immune to Confusion! But, before you use Divine
Ruination, make sure that it won’t hit any of your own allies and that the
Protoconstruct you’re targeting is within its vertical range. If you can’t use
Divine Ruination, Crush Armor works fine too and has no friendly fire
potential.
Wherever possible, stand in one place and attack without moving. This will
allow you to get new turns more quickly.
Like Construct 7, both Protoconstructs have a Reraise that activates the first
time they are KOed. They will return to action and immediately attack again.
Actually, this isn’t such a problem, because the self-inflicted HP loss from
their Tasks abilities usually KOs them right away. Once KOed a second time,
they immediately turn into chests (which seem to always contain Bracers).
The battle won’t actually end until you’ve KOed every last Construct, but once
you defeat one of the Protoconstructs, you don’t have any more time pressure
and should have no trouble mopping the remaining bots.
There’s a certain amount of luck involved in this battle, since the Constructs’
Zodiac signs are randomly determined and you may end up with good or bad
compatibility purely by chance.
The treasures from this battle include two you can’t find anywhere else in
Rendezvous Mode. One is the Grand Armor, the best heavy armor available, as it
gives you a permanent Reraise and Regen. This one is definitely worth getting!
The other is the Fomalhaut gun, which is thoroughly pointless to look for here,
as Fomalhauts are abundant in Melee Mode.
Again, keep in mind that you can deploy 4 characters and still get the highest
possible ranking here.
TITLE AWARDED: Construct
UNIQUE POSSIBLE TREASURES: Grand Armor, Fomalhaut
—Rendezvous Mission 13: Nightmares——————————————-
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Completing single-player game
BATTLE MAP: Limberry Castle Undercroft
YOUR FORCES: 1-3 characters per player
ENEMY FORCES:
1st Squad – Zalera [Death Seraph; Gemini], Adremmelch [The Wroth; Scorpio],
Ultima Demon x3
2nd Squad – Cuchulainn [The Impure; Scorpio], Belias [The Gigas; Virgo],
Hashmal [Bringer of Order; Leo], Ultima Demon x2
You’re battling all of the Lucavi (sans Elidibus) at once, plus five Ultima
Demons. Player 1 will begin battling Zalera and Adremmelech’s group, while
Player 2 fights the three other Lucavi.
Between the five of them, the Lucavi can throw a lot of status conditions at
you, so you’ll need to equip Ribbons (or Onion Gloves, if you’re using Onion
Knights). Fortunately, the Lucavi don’t seem to have any of the magick attacks
they used in the single-player game. If you have Ribbons, all they can do is
use physical attacks. This means you can pretty much prevent them from hurting
you at all if you combine a Ribbon with Shirahadori or (preferably) First
Strike, or even just a good shield.
In fact, if you have Ribbons and Shirahadori/First Strike, the Ultima Demons
are actually the biggest threat, since they use magick attacks. Go after them
first. The Dark Knight’s Sanguine Sword can be useful for draining HP from
them to keep you healthy. The White Mage’s Arcane Defense is also a useful
support ability to reduce the magick damage you take. (If you’re being
targeted by an Ultima Demon’s magick, you can also try moving next to another
enemy, as their magicks can hurt friendly targets as well.)
Because all of the enemies here have the Can’t Enter Water "ability," the water
in the middle of the map functions as a safe spot. The Ultima Demons can still
hit you with their magick if they get close enough, but the Lucavi can’t attack
you at all (assuming you’re guarded against status conditions). You can jump
directly into the water from the bridge in the center if you have a Jump of at
least 4, or Waterwalking, Levitation, Ignore Elevation, or Teleport. If you
don’t have these abilities, you can also get in the water by using the little
"step" (a tile of height 3) on side of the map. It’s on the side of the map
WITHOUT the gravestones. From the water, you can safely throw ranged attacks
at the enemies. Actually, if you have First Strike or Shirahadori and a high
Bravery, there isn’t much benefit to this, since the Lucavi can’t hurt you
anyway, and you may not be in range to attack the Ultima Demons.
Watch out for the Ultima Demons turn to crystals. The Lucavi can pick up these
crystals up to restore some of their HP (though fortunately not all of it).
This isn’t fatal, but can be annoying! Grab the crystals as soon as they
appear, and if you see a KOed Ultima Demon about to disappear, try to position
yourself between the enemies and the body so that they can’t grab the crystal
before you can. The Lucavi themselves explode when KOed and do not leave
crystals.
With Ribbons and First Strike, this battle actually goes quite quickly — not
only are you virtually invulnerable, you’ll quickly defeat the Lucavi because
their attempts to attack you get turned into additional attack opportunities.
That makes this battle a great one to repeatedly tackle to acquire high-level
rare items. Each player can deploy just a single character to increase your
treasure haul.
The two unique treasures you can obtain here are the Gungnir spear and the
Dreamwaker staff. The Gungnir isn’t really special — it’s weaker than the
Javelin II. The Dreamwaker is the best staff in the game; although it doesn’t
have the strongest attack power, it boosts your magick power more than any
other staff.
TITLE AWARDED: Dreamcatcher
UNIQUE POSSIBLE TREASURES: Gungnir, Dreamwaker
—Rendezvous Mission 14: Brave Story——————————————
AVAILABLE AFTER…: Completing single-player game
BATTLE MAP: Monastery Vaults – Fifth Level
YOUR FORCES: 1-3 characters per player
ENEMY FORCES:
1ST BATTLE: Luso, Cloud, Chocobo x3, Black Chocobo x3, Red Chocobo x2
2ND BATTLE: Mustadio, Balthier, Chemist (male) x2, Chemist (female) x2,
Orator (male) x2, Orator (female) x2
3RD BATTLE: Onion Knight (male) x2, Onion Knight (female) x3,
Plague Horror x1, Cockatrice x2, Sekhret x2
4TH BATTLE: Cuchulainn [The Impure; Scorpio], Elidibus [Serpentarius],
Great Malboro x5, Knight (male, undead) x3
5TH BATTLE: Dycedarg, Zalbaag, Gaffgarion, Argath, Dragoon (male) x6
6TH BATTLE: Orlandeau, Agrias, Alma, Ovelia, Rapha, Marach, Orran,
Time Mage (female) x2, Mystic (male) x1
7TH BATTLE: Elmdore, Zalbaag, Celia, Lettie, Archaeodaemon x6
8TH BATTLE: Bremondt, Beowulf, Aliste, Reis, Hydra x2, Greater Hydra x2,
Tiamat x2
9TH BATTLE: Isilud, Meliadoul, Barich, Cletienne, Loffrey, Wiegraf, Folmarv,
Zalmour, Time Mage (female) x2
10TH BATTLE: Delita [Sagittarius; Holy Knight], Valmafra [Leo; Sorceror],
Dark Knight (female) x8
—PREPARATION—
If you thought The Knights Templar was long, this one is even longer! FFT’s
100-Man Melee, the Brave Story mission consists of no fewer than TEN continuous
battles, each with 10 opponents, for a total of 100 enemies. You’ll face off
against most of the game’s story characters in the game here.
Orlandeau and Agrias are really the best characters here, since their sword
techniques work on everything. Meliadoul would also work, but only if
supplemented with some other good attack command (e.g. Darkness, or maybe
Jump) since some enemies have Safeguard and are immune to her Crush attacks.
Other good abilities to have here are Darkness and Arts of War (for equipment
and MP breaking). A long-range Jump can be useful in some situations, but
there are a lot of enemies here who have Shirahadori and can block it.
Finally, Balthier’s Barrage attack is also effective for general combat and for
breaking through enemy Shirahadoris.
A few key defensive abilities will actually protect you almost everything here.
First, Shirahadori and a high Bravery will stop physical attacks. Safeguard
will make you immune to Crush attacks, and also keep your equipment from being
stolen or rent. Finally, equip female characters with a Ribbon (easily
obtained in Melee Mode or elsewhere in Rendezvous Mode) to stop all status
attacks, and male characters with a Thief’s Cap to at least stop Immobilize and
Disable. With these abilities, there are actually only a few enemies here that
pose a real threat.
The best shields to go with are the Reverie Shield or Kaiser Shield, both of
which halve damage from fire, ice, lightning attacks. This is important
against the hydras — there’s no way to *evade* their breath attacks, but the
shield will reduce the damage it does. The Escutcheon II is actually less
useful here — since Shirahadori can block almost all physical attacks anyway,
the high physical evade rate from the Escutcheon II doesn’t count for much.
As with The Knights Templar, you won’t be healed between battles. KOed
characters also won’t be revived, although their death counter will reset.
Other status ailments ARE removed, as is broken equipment. Buffs will also
disappear, so using Tailwind during the first battle will not help you later
on, alas. Finally, crystals and chests on the battlefield will also disappear
between battles, so if you see something you want to grab, be sure to pick it
up before the battle ends!
Since you’re not automatically healed, having some healing abilities is
important. Carrying a Chaos Blade actually helps a lot with this, since it
gives you a permanent Regen. If you have a powerful HP-draining attack —
Orlandeau’s Shadowblade or the Dark Knight’s Sanguine Sword — you’re set. (An
HP-draining weapon like the Orochi ninja sword or the Blood Sword could
conceivably also be used, but the former won’t allow you to use sword
techniques and the latter is too weak.) Armor that gives you an auto-Reraise
— i.e., the Brave Suit from Melee Mode or the Grand Armor from The Guarded
Temple — will also help out a lot. Otherwise, you might want to consider
giving one character an Action Ability that lets him or her heal (e.g. Items,
Martial Arts, White Magick, Iaido, or Summon). Before wrapping up each battle,
you can leave one enemy standing and take some time to heal characters.
Equipping the Tynar Rouge or a Brigand’s Gloves will give you a permanent
Haste, which is quite useful both in giving you the edge against the enemies
and in reducing the time needed to hack through all ten levels.
Move +2 or Move +3 is probably the best movement ability here. Since you’re
fighting on a map with a lot of holes, though, you might also consider the
Time Mage’s Levitate ability, which will let you move anywhere you want and
saves you from having to take detours around the holes.
Also note that you CAN target "hole" panels, even though you can’t see your
targeting cursor. This is often useful when a hole happens to be a good place
to center a Hallowed Bolt.
Since many of the enemies here have Shirahadori or First Strike and physical
attacks are ineffective against them, using Onion Knights (even fully powered
up ones) is probably not a good idea.
Finally, it’s worth pointing out that this mission is LONG. You and your
partner will need to set aside a fair amount of time to clear all ten battles.
Now for strategies for specific battles:
—BATTLE 1—
ENEMY: Cloud [Aquarius] – Soldier – Bravery 76, Faith 59
Equipment : Materia Blade, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, random accessory
Abilities : Limit, Shirahadori, Swiftness, other abilities random
ENEMY: Luso [Cancer] – Game Hunter – Bravery 71, Faith 63
Equipment : Icebrand, Crystal Shield, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe,
random accessory
Abilities : Huntcraft, Reflexes, Tame, Move +1, random movement ability
The first battle pits you against Luso, Cloud, and 8 chocobos. Cloud has
Swiftness to help his Limits charge faster, but even still, you can probably
take him out before he can use them. (He has Shirahadori, so don’t try direct
physical attacks unless you’re Dual Wielded.)
After Cloud, the Red Chocobos are the next enemies to take out since their
Choco Meteor attack is unblockable and does a fair amount of damage. Attacking
them with HP-drain attacks will keep you healthy. The Black Chocobos are
your next target, since their Choco Pellets attack is also reasonably powerful.
(You can at least block this one with shields, though not with Shirahadori.)
Although the plain yellow Chocobos can heal wounded allies, this isn’t too much
of a problem since you can probably defeat most of the Chocobos in a single
attack, which leaves no chance for healing! Luso also doesn’t really have any
special abilities and isn’t much of a threat.
—BATTLE 2—
ENEMY: Mustadio [Libra] – Machinist – Bravery 68, Faith 65
Equipment : Blaze Gun, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe, random accessory
Abilities : Aimed Shot, Arts of War, Soulbind, Defense Boost,
random movement ability
ENEMY: Balthier [Leo] – Sky Pirate – Bravery 75, Faith 63
Equipment : Blaster, Crystal Shield, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe, Angel Ring
Abilities : Piracy, Items, First Strike, Throw Items, Move +1
Battle two is against 10 gunfighters, including Mustadio and Balthier.
Shirahadori will be very helpful here in avoiding the enemy gun attacks. If
you have Shirahadori and gear to protect against the Bunansas’ Arm Shots and
Leg Shots, you can’t really be hurt here. If you’re not protected against
Immobilize or Disable, you could try Purification or Esuna to restore
characters who do get Immobilized or Disabled. (If you’re just Immobilized,
you can even use it on yourself.)
Agrias has poor Zodiac compatibility with Mustadio and won’t do much damage to
him, so to speed things up, send another character after Mustadio.
Remember that Balthier’s Sky Pirate job has an innate Safeguard, so Crush
skills will not work against him. He also has an Angel Ring, which means that
you will have to KO him twice. Or, simply attack him last. (Since he takes a
while to take down, you might want him to attack him last anyway.)
The female enemies in the back row tend to use Dance abilities, but this isn’t
a particular threat.
—BATTLE 3—
ENEMY: Red [Capricorn] – Male Onion Knight – Bravery 75, Faith 65
Equipment : Ragnarok, Kaiser Shield, Grand Helm, Maximilian, Japa Mala
Abilities : Arts of War, Counter, Safeguard, Move +2
ENEMY: Purple [Pisces] – Male Onion Knight – Bravery 75, Faith 65
Equipment : Dragon Whisker, Grand Helm, Maximilian, Japa Mala
Abilities : Jump, Dragonheart, Safeguard, Move +2
ENEMY: Green [Taurus] – Female Onion Knight – Bravery 75, Faith 65
Equipment : Perseus Bow, Ribbon, Maximilian, Bracer
Abilities : Items, First Strike, Safeguard, Move +2
ENEMY: Black [Virgo] – Female Onion Knight – Bravery 75, Faith 65
Equipment : Zeus Mace, Crystal Shield, Ribbon, Maximilian, Sortile’ge
Abilities : Iaido, Cup of Life, Safeugard, Move +2
ENEMY: Yellow [Cancer] – Female Onion Knight – Bravery 75, Faith 65
Equipment : Wyrmweave Silk, Ribbon, Maximilian, Cherche
Abilities : Dance, Mana Shield, Safeguard, Move +2
Battle three pits you against the Motley Onion Fighting Outfit plus some
assorted monsters. Try to KO the Plague Horror and Cockatrices quickly since
they can inflict status ailments like Stone on any characters that don’t have
Ribbons. The Sekhrets are the next targets since their Earthsplitter attack is
pretty powerful. (If you’re using Levitate, though, you’ll be immune to this
attack.)
Although Onion Knights can’t normally equip abilities, the Fighting Outfit has
them anyway. With Shirahadori, though, they’re mostly harmless, so take out
the monsters first. Red, Green, and Black basically just use physical attacks,
which you can easily deflect. Purple uses Jump attacks; these can also be
blocked by Shirahadori, but it makes him harder to hit. Be sure to attack him
when you get the chance. Yellow is pretty annoying because she tends to runs
into a corner and use Dance. Plus, she has Mana Shield, so she takes several
attacks to defeat. You may want to chase after her and start attacking her
first.
The Onion Knights all have Safeguard, so, again, Crush skills are out. This
also means that you can’t steal any of their equipment, which is unfortunate,
as it’s quite good!
If you want to defeat the Onion Knights quickly, Orlandeau has great
compatibility against Green and good compatibility against Purple and Yellow.
Agrias has great compatibility against Red and good against Purple. Meliadoul
has good compatibiltiy against Green and Black but terrible compatibility
against Yellow!
—BATTLE 4—
Battle 4 is where it starts getting a little more interesting. Here you’ll
face Elidibus, Cuchulainn, three undead Knights, and five Great Malboros. The
Great Malboros’ Bad Breath can be quite dangerous for characters who don’t have
a Ribbon. You may want such characters to keep their distance from the
Malboros. The Malboros have quite high HP and may take multiple attacks to
KO, so focus your attacks on one or two until you take themdown.
If you have someone with Items, use Phoenix Downs to quickly defeat the enemy
Knights; if you’re using Balthier (or Mustadio), Seal Evil is even better.
Remember NOT to try draining HP from undead enemies, as it actually hurts you!
When you KO them, the Knights here all get stars over their head rather than
death counters, which means they can’t revive even though they’re undead. (So,
it doesn’t really matter if you don’t petrify them.)
Instead, focus on breaking through the enemy line so you can reach Elidibus.
He can still cast Zodiark which, of course, makes him the biggest threat.
He’s not quite as dangerous as he was on Terminus, though, just because the map
is smaller and you should be able to reach him before he can cast the summon.
One strategy you may want to use, then, is just to wipe out his MP so he can’t
Zodiark. Two Rend MPs will do it, or you can use Duskblade or Infernal Strike.
Even if Elidibus has no MP, he can still use Poisonous Frog (which doesn’t cost
MP) to frog you, but this will be removed at the end of the battle. Cuchulainn
will probably just use Nightmare to put you to sleep, which, while annoying, is
relatively harmless. You’re better off defeating Elidibus first, *then* going
after him. The enemies here use a lot of status attacks, but with at least one
Ribbon, you should be OK, and all of the status ailments are removed for the
start of the next battle.
If you didn’t learn Zodiark from Elidibus during the single-player game, or
want to have additional characters learn it, you can learn it here as well.
It’s probably easier to survive the spell here as you have a good opportunity
to use Rend Magick on Elidibus and make the summon less deadly. Note, though,
that you must successfully complete all ten battles in this mission to keep the
summon; if you die partway through, Zodiark will be lost.
—BATTLE 5—
ENEMY: Dycedarg [Scorpio] – Rune Knight – Bravery 68, Faith 66
Equipment : Save the Queen, Crystal Shield, Circlet, Luminous Robe,
Magick Ring
Abilities : Swordplay, Items, Regenerate, Arcane Strength, Move +1
ENEMY: Zalbaag [Cancer] – Ark Knight – Bravery 75, Faith 68
Equipment : Save the Queen, Protect Ring, other equipment random
Abilities : Blade of Ruin, Martial Arts, Bonecrusher, Attack Boost, Move +1
ENEMY: Gaffgarion [Virgo] – Fell Knight – Bravery 65, Faith 52
Equipment : Defender, Reflect Ring, other equipment random
Abilities : Fell Sword, Bardsong, Counter, Defense Boost,
random movement ability
ENEMY: Argath [Virgo] – Squire – Bravery 54, Faith 52
Equipment : Gastrophetes, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe, Guardian Bracelet
Abilities : Fundaments, Steal, Bravery Boost, Equip Crossbows,
random movement ability
Battle 5 pits you against Duke Larg’s forces, including a plethora of Dragoons.
Gaffgarion and Dycedarg use sword techniques, making them the most dangerous,
and Gaffgarion’s allow him to steal HP back to himself! However, Dycedarg
does not have the Magicks command that he used in Eagrose Castle, and this
version of Zalbaag does not have Vampire.
You can often hit multiple Dragoons with your initial attacks. Some are
arranged in a plus-shape formation that you can hit with Hallowed Bolt or other
area-effect targets. If you look closely, you’ll also see that many are
arranged in a horizontal line; Divine Ruination, Kiku-ichimonji, Shockwave, or
other attacks that strike along a long line can hit many of these. You can
probably KO a majority of the Dragoons in your initial attacks.
As long as you have Shirahadori and good Bravery, the other Dragoons can’t hurt
you much. So, target Dycedarg and Gaffgarion next because of their powerful
sword techniques. Argath is totally useless here (he just has a crossbow), so
you can leave him for later.
—BATTLE 6—
ENEMY: Orlandeau [Scorpio] – Sword Saint – Bravery 77, Faith 65
Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Helm, Crystal Mail, other equipment random
Abilities : Swordplay, Iaido, Bonecrusher, Doublehand, Move +2
ENEMY: Agrias [Cancer] – Holy Knight – Bravery 71, Faith 63
Equipment : Save the Queen, Crystal Shield, Crystal Helm, Crystal Mail,
random accessory
Abilities : Holy Sword, Iaido, Shirahadori, Defense Boost, Move +2
ENEMY: Alma [Cleric] – Leo – Bravery 31, Faith 87
Equipment : Mage’s Staff, Barette, Gaia Gear, Red Shoes
Abilities : Holy Magicks, Time Magicks, Soulbind, Arcane Defense,
Ignore Terrain
ENEMY: Ovelia [Taurus] – Princess – Bravery 53, Faith 72
Equipment : Mage’s Staff, Cachusha, Gaia Gear, Red Shoes
Abilities : Holy Magicks, Time Magicks, Soulbind, Arcane Strength,
Ignore Terrain
ENEMY: Rapha [Skyseer] – Skyseer – Bravery 31, Faith 69
Equipment : Eight-fluted Pole, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, Featherweave Cloak
Abilities : Sky Mantra, Items, Nature’s Wrath, Swiftness, Manafont
ENEMY: Marach [Netherseer] – Netherseer – Bravery 69, Faith 31
Equipment : Eight-fluted Pole, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, Featherweave Cloak
Abilities : Nether Mantra, Items, Nature’s Wrath, Swiftness, Manafont
ENEMY: Orran [Cancer] – Astrologer – Bravery 73, Faith 71
Equipment : Omnilex, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, Japa Mala
Abilities : Astrology, Items, Magick Counter, Swiftness, Lifefont
When Dycedarg’s team goes down, you’re halfway through! Next up is a tricky
battle against a large assortment of your own allies, including Orlandeau,
Agrias, Ovelia, Alma, Rapha, Marach, and Orran. You’ll now be on the receiving
end of Orran’s Celestial Stasis ability. If you have Ribbons and Thief’s Caps,
though, you’re mostly immune to it. (Characters with Thief’s Caps can still
be Stopped, but that’s all.) It still can cast Stop on characters who don’t
have a Ribbon, though, so you’ll probably want to make a beeline for Orran and
KO before he can paralyze anyone. (Orlandeau should be able to defeat him in
a single attack thanks to their Zodiac compatibility.) If your entire team has
Ribbons, you can pretty much ignore Orran completely.
Along with Orran, Agrias and Orlandeau should be your first targets because of
their powerful sword techniques. Agrias’s Save the Queen gives her a permanent
Protect, which makes her slow to defeat. Try using Crush Weapon to break it.
(She also has Shirahadori, so Jump or non-Dual Wielded physical attacks will
not work.) Agrias and Orlandeau have good Zodiac compatibility with each
other, which means Agrias is good for defeating the enemy Orlandeau and
Orlandeau good against the enemy Agrias!
Once you defeat Agrias and Orlandeau, you’ll probably want to go after Alma
and Ovelia next. As in the main storyline, they mostly cast their Aegis buff.
This can make other enemies tough to defeat, but Alma and Ovelia always cast it
on themselves, so you’ve got some time to catch up to them and defeat them.
Watch out for their Soulbind! They have so little HP that you may be able to
just circumvent Soulbind by KOing them in a single attack, though. (This will
be a little tougher if they cast Aegis on themselves and have Shell/Protect;
you could try dispeling those effects if you have an ability that will do so.)
If they did succeed in casting Aegis on themselves, they’ll have a Reraise that
lets them return after the KO. So, stay close to them after KOing the first
time. When they wake up, quickly KO them again before they can cast Aegis a
second time. Note that Alma has a very high Faith, so magick would do a lot of
damage to her.
Rapha and Marach are, as always, not really worth worrying about until the end.
—BATTLE 7—
ENEMY: Elmdore [Gemini] – Ark Knight – Bravery 70, Faith 70
Equipment : Masamune, Genji Shield, Genji Helm, Genji Armor, Genji Glove
Abilities : Sword Spirit, Vampire, Shirahadori, Brawler, Master Teleportation
ENEMY: Celia [Sagittarius] – Assassin – Bravery 65, Faith 70
Equipment : Kiku-ichimonji x2, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, random accessory
Abilities : Subdual Arts, Vampire, Move +1, random other abilities
ENEMY: Lettie [Scorpio] – Assassin – Bravery 65, Faith 70
Equipment : Spellbinder x2, Thief’s Cap, Black Garb, random accessory
Abilities : Subdual Arts, Vampire, Move +1, random other abilities
ENEMY: Zalbaag [Cancer] – Ark Knight – Bravery 33, Faith 77
Equipment : Runeblade, Crystal Shield, Crystal Helm, Crystal Mail,
Germinas Boots
Abilities : Blade of Ruin, Vampire, Adrenaline Rush, Defense Boost, Lifefont
In Battle 7, you’ll face Elmdore’s forces, including Elmdore, Celia, Lettie,
the zombie version of Zalbaag, and some Archaeodaemons. Elmdore is equipped
much as he was before, and you can’t still get his Genji stuff. Celia and
Lettie still have their Subdual Arts abilities, and all four humans (including
Celia and Lettie!) now have the ability to turn you into Vampires. This causes
a character to go Berserk and start trying to Vampire other characters,
including your own allies! This can be pretty dangerous, especially since you
lose the battle if all characters get turned into a Vampire. Shirahadori does
not block the Vampire attack, but having a Ribbon will at least protect you
from the Vampire status if not the damage from the attack. If one of your male
characters does get turned into a Vampire (as signified by the bat icon), keep
your other characters clear of him. As long as you do so, he should just
attack monsters, and you’re fine. There’s not much that can cure Vampire
status, only the Holy Water item, but it will be removed at the end of the
battle. If the Vampired character really gets to be a problem, you could
always KO him and then revive him at the start of the next battle when he’s no
longer a Vampire.
The good news is that Celia and Lettie are in perfect position for a Hallowed
Bolt at the start of the battle. You can probably also attack multiple
Archaeodaemons at once. Unlike in Limberry, Celia and Lettie do NOT turn into
Ultima Demons when KOed. Zalbaag, for some reason, seems to turn into a
crystal immediately upon being KOed. Grab it before any wounded enemy can.
Elmdore has a lot of HP and will probably take several attacks, so you may want
to focus on eliminating the other humans first.
Be careful when attacking the Archaeodemons. Their Karma magick does damage
equal to the HP they’ve lost. If you leave an Archaeodemon standing with
little HP, this attack will be very powerful and do hundreds of damage! Once
you’ve started attacked an Archaeodemon, quickling finish it off. The
Archaeodaemons like to retreat into a corner of the map; a long-range Jump
attack is good for defeating them, if you happen to have it. You can also take
advantage of the old trick of standing next to another enemy when one of the
Archaeodemons starts casting Giga Flare, so the enemy will be hit by magick’s
effect radius. At any rate, the Archaedemons don’t have that much HP, so you
can hopefully defeat them in one hit if your Zodiac compatibility isn’t bad.
(There’s a certain amount of luck here since the Archaeodemons have random
Zodiac signs.)
—BATTLE 8—
ENEMY: Bremondt [Gemini] – Celebrant – Bravery 15, Faith 75
Equipment : Zeus Mace, Gold Hairpin, Lordly Robe, Featherweave Cloak
Abilities : Priest Magicks, Throw, Counter Tackle, Safeguard, Lifefont
ENEMY: Beowulf [Libra] – Templar – Bravery 60, Faith 73
Equipment : Ragnarok, Venetian Shield, Grand Helm, Maximillian, Germinas Boots
Abilities : Spellblade, Iaido, First Strike, Safeguard, Manafont
ENEMY: Aliste [Scorpio] – Templar – Bravery 70, Faith 58
Equipment : Ragnarok, Kaiser Shield, Genji Helm, Genji Armor, Genji Glove
Abilities : Spellblade, Iaido, Shirahadori, Safeguard, Move +1
ENEMY: Reis [Pisces] – Dragonkin – Bravery 70, Faith 58
Equipment : Cachusha, Japa Mala
Abilities : Dragon, White Magicks, Dragonheart, Arcane Strength, Lifefont
Battle 8 pits you the characters from Beowulf’s storyline, plus an assortment
of hydras. This is probably the toughest battle in the sequence: Beowulf and
Aliste can inflict status ailments, the hydras do big damage (and their breath
attacks can’t be blocked with Shirahadori), Reis can support the hydras, and
Bremondt and Reis can both Raise KOed allies. This is where Kaiser or Reverie
Shields will be quite helpful, as they halve all the damage from the hydras’
breath attacks.
If you can move quickly, you can hit Beowulf and Aliste with a Hallowed Bolt
before they can move. You’ll want to take them out first because of the status
ailments they can inflict on characters without Ribbons.
If you have your own Reis deployed, you should be able to use Dragon’s Charm to
invite the hydras onto your team. This is quite helpful, as it not only
reduces the number of enemies you’re fighting but gives you an extra helping
hand. (They won’t stay with you past this round, though.)
Although the hydras are the ones doing the damage here, you’ll probably have to
KO Bremondt and Reis first. Otherwise, they’ll just keep healing or Raising
the hydras. (Orlandeau can do a lot of damage to Reis because of his Zodiac
compatibility.) Don’t worry; Bremondt doesn’t turn into the Dark Dragon when
KOed here.
The hydras all have 900+ HP, so you’re unlikely to be able to KO one in a
single attack. For your first attack, try using Northswain’s Strike or the
Dark Knight’s Crushing Blow, which may inflict KO or Stop (respectively) and
put the hydra out of play in a single blow. (Of course, there’s no guarantee it
will happen, but it’s worth a try!) Six hydras together are quite dangerous,
so focus on quickly KOing a few to reduce the number of enemies you’re facing.
The white Tiamat and black Greater Tiamats are the real dangers because they
have the breath attacks; unless augmented by Reis’s Beastmaster, the orange
Hydras can only do physical attacks, which you can easily block. Any hydra
that gets separated from the group is a prime target, as you can attack it
without putting yourself in danger. And as always, whenever you can attack
without moving, you’ll get more turns quickly. The hydras’ breath attacks can
do quite a bit of damage, so keep your HP high using HP-drain attacks. Hydras
that are low on HP may flee into a corner, and you can just leave them there
until you defeat the others.
After battling all these hydras, you may find yourself low on HP by the end of
the battle. It’s probably a good idea to heal yourself before moving onto the
next battle. This is fairly easy to do; if the last hydra has critical HP, it
will just cower in the corner and you’ve got plenty of time to heal. Just be
sure to pick up any crystallized monsters before the hydra can heal itself!
—BATTLE 9—
ENEMY: Isilud [Pisces] – Nightblade – Bravery 97, Faith 63
Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Shield, Luminous Robe, other equipment random
Abilities : Arts of War, Counter, Attack Boost, Ignore Elevation,
other ability random
ENEMY: Meliadoul [Capricorn] – Divine Knight – Bravery 97, Faith 63
Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Shield, Circlet, Luminous Robe, Septie`me
Abilities : Unyielding Blade, Counter, Attack Boost, Ignore Elevation,
other ability random
ENEMY: Barich [Sagittarius] – Machinist – Bravery 97, Faith 62
Equipment : Blaze Gun, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe, random accessory
Abilities : Aimed Shot, Mana Shield, Defense Boost, Lifefont,
other ability random
ENEMY: Cletienne [Gemini] – Sorceror – Bravery 97, Faith 81
Equipment : Wizard’s Rod, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe, random accessory
Abilities : Magicks, Magick Counter, Arcane Strength, Manafont,
other ability random
ENEMY: Loffrey [Capricorn] – Divine Knight – Bravery 97, Faith 68
Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Shield, Circlet, Luminous Robe,
random accessory
Abilities : Unyielding Blade, Soulbind, Arcane Defense, Ignore Elevation,
other ability random
ENEMY: Wiegraf [Virgo] – White Knight – Bravery 97, Faith 64
Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Shield, Circlet, Luminous Robe,
random accessory
Abilities : Holy Sword, Mana Shield, Attack Boost, Ignore Elevation,
other ability random
ENEMY: Folmarv [Leo] – Divine Knight – Bravery 97, Faith 68
Equipment : Excalibur, Crystal Shield, Luminous Robe, other equipment random
Abilities : Unyielding Blade, First Strike, Defense Boost, Ignore Elevation,
other ability random
ENEMY: Zalmour [Sagittarius] – Celebrant – Bravery 97, Faith 70
Equipment : Eight-fluted Pole, Thief’s Cap, Luminous Robe, random accessory
Abilities : Priest Magicks, Magick Counter, Arcane Strength, Lifefont,
other ability random
On to Battle 9! Here you’ll fight all the Knights Templar. This is also a
tricky battle, especially because most of them have Excaliburs (giving them an
auto-Haste) and all have 97 Bravery, which means their reaction abilities
activate quite frequently.
If you have Safeguard, you’ll be protected against their Crush attacks and they
pretty much have to resort to physical attacks, which you should be able to
block with Shirahadori. This makes Wiegraf the most dangerous — Safeguard
won’t protect you from his Holy Sword techniques, and they do a LOT of damage,
thanks to his Attack Boost!
Hit Isilud and Meliadoul straight off with a Hallowed Bolt, then go after JP Boost * 250 Raises JP received by the unit by
50%
–Movement Abilities–
JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Move +1 * 200 Movement range + 1
JP to master: 1670
–MY THOUGHTS–
Squires are what you’d expect from a starting job — functional, but nothing
all that special. Their abilities are useful early on, but there aren’t too
many that you’d use later on. Move +1 is a great all-purpose movement ability
though, and definitely worth learning before you move on from Squire. (Most
other jobs have a movement range of only 3, making it tough for them to keep
up with the battle.) JP Boost is also great for helping you learn other
abilities quickly, especially when you switch to a new job and need to gain
levels quickly. It’s a great investment to learn JP Boost early on.
If you’re into grinding levels, Focus and Stone are good abilities to use
repeatedly to build up experience or JP.
—CHEMIST———————————————————————
Required jobs : none
Needed for jobs : White Mage (lv. 2), Black Mage (lv. 2), Onion Knight (lv. 6),
Mime (lv. 8)
Equippable weapons: Knives, guns Movement range : 3
Equippable armor: Hats, clothes Jump height : 3
Innate ability: Throw Items Physical evade : 5%
Stats When Active Job:
HP: *** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: ** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: ***
Stat Growth Rates:
HP: ** MP: ** Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *
–ABILITIES–
–Action Abilities: Items–
Damage based on user’s: nothing
RNG RAD
MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT
—————————————————————
Potion * 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 30 Can use Potions (restore 30 HP)
Hi-Potion * 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 200 Can use Hi-Potions (restore 70
HP)
X-Potion * 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 300 Can use X-Potions (restore 150
HP)
Ether 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 300 Can use Ethers (restore 20 MP)
Hi-Ether * 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 400 Can use Hi-Ethers (restore 50 MP)
Elixir 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 900 Can use Elixirs (restore all HP &
MP)
Antidote 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 70 Can use Antidotes (cures Poison)
Eye Drops 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 80 Can use Eye Drops (cures Blind)
Echo Herbs 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 120 Can use Echo Herbs (cures
Silence)
Maiden’s Kiss 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 200 Can use Maiden’s Kisses (cures
Toad)
Gold Needle 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 250 Can use Gold Needles (cures
Stone)
Holy Water 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 400 Can use Holy Water (cures Undead
and Vampire)
Remedy * 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 700 Can use Remedies (cures Stone,
Blind, Confuse, Silence, Oil,
Toad, Poison, and Sleep)
Phoenix Down * 0 1/* 1/- Any Y 90 Can use Phoenix Down (revives
KOed character with minimal HP)
Note 1: All Items abilities require you to have the corresponding item in your
inventory. One item is consumed with each use. Aside from Elixirs, all the
items can be bought at the Outfitter, although some do not become available
until later in the game.
Note 2: The Throw Items ability (equippable, and also innate in the Chemist
job) extends the range of all Items abilities from 1 to 4.
–Reaction Abilities–
TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Auto-Potion * Any HP loss Yes 400 Use weakest potion available on self
–Support Abilities–
JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Throw Items +* 350 Increases horizontal range of Items
command from 1 to 4.
Safeguard * 250 Equipment can’t be broken or stolen
Reequip 0 Allows use of Reequip action to
change unit’s equipment (but
consumes turn)
–Movement Abilities–
JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Treasure Hunter 100 Allows you to discover any hidden
items on the destination tile,
which are then added to your
inventory. Your chance of getting
a more valuable item increases
with LOW Bravery.
JP to master: 5140
–MY THOUGHTS–
Despite being a "basic" job, Chemists are great! Items are great for healing
because they don’t take any time to charge and never miss. Ethers and
Hi-Ethers are also a convenient way to restore MP. And, since the effect of
items is fixed, you can assign the Items ability even to a character with low
magic ability. The only real downside is that items can only heal one
character at a time.
Early in the game, Chemists make great healers. Plus, once you’re able to buy
guns (late in Chapter II), they have a good range attack, giving them something
else to do when the team doesn’t need healing.
Be sure to learn Throw Items before you switch your Chemist to another job.
Otherwise, your items will only have a range of 1 and won’t be much good at
all. (Chemists themselves don’t need to learn Throw Items, as they have it as
an intrinsic ability.)
It’s pretty safe to skip the items that cure negative status (Eye Drops, etc.);
you don’t have to face these status conditions all that often. Save your JP
and just learn Remedy; once Remedies become available (midway through Chapter
II) they duplicate the effects of ALL the other items. The exception is Holy
Water, but there’s pretty much only point where you have to worry about being
hit with the Undead or Vampire conditions.
Safeguard is an important support ability, especially later in the game when
you have rare equipment that you can’t buy in stores. You don’t want that
being broken or stolen! Although you don’t need to equip Safeguard all the
time, it’s good to have on hand for particular battles where the enemies are
apt to break your equipment.
The Treasure Hunter movement ability, on the other hand, isn’t all that useful
during the main game since most of the items you find from it are nothing
special. However, in the game’s sidequests, Treasure Hunter will net you some
rare items you can’t find anywhere else, so at that point you’ll definitely
want to have at least one character learn Treasure Hunter. (Preferably someone
with low Bravery, as this increases your chance of getting good items with it.)
—KNIGHT———————————————————————-
Required jobs : Squire lv. 2
Needed for jobs : Monk (lv. 3), Samurai (lv. 4), Dark Knight (Mastered!)
Equippable weapons: Swords, knight’s swords Movement range : 4
Equippable armor: Shields, helms, armor, robes Jump height : 3
Physical evade : 10%
Stats When Active Job:
HP: **** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: ***
Stat Growth Rates:
HP: **** MP: ** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *
–ABILITIES–
–Action Abilities: Arts of War–
Success based on user’s: Physical Attack & Weapon Strength
RNG RAD
MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT
—————————————————————
Rend Helm 0 Weapon Any Y 300 Destroys target’s headgear
Rend Armor 0 Weapon Any Y 400 Destroys target’s armor
Rend Shield 0 Weapon Any Y 300 Destroys target’s shield
Rend Weapon * 0 Weapon Any Y 400 Destroys target’s weapon
Rend MP * 0 Weapon Any Y 250 Lowers target’s MP (by 1/2 of
target’s maximum MP)
Rend Speed * 0 Weapon Any Y 250 Lowers target’s speed by 2
Rend Power * 0 Weapon Any Y 250 Lowers target’s phys. attack by 3
Rend Magick 0 Weapon Any Y 250 Lowers target’s mag. attack by 3
When combined with the Dual Wield support ability and Dual Wielded weapons,
Arts of War fires twice per use.
If Rend Helm, Armor, Shield, or Weapon is used against a target not equipped
with that type of item, it functions as a physical attack instead. (This is
useful when you Dual Wield and succeed in rending the item on the first
strike.)
–Reaction Abilities–
TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Parry No 200 Block physical attacks with weapon;
rate of success is equal to
current weapon’s Block Rate (see
weapon list). Not effective
against rear attacks.
–Support Abilities–
JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Equip Heavy Armor +* 500 Can equip heavy armor + helmets
regardless of job
Equip Shields + 250 Can equip shields regardless of job
Equip Swords +* 400 Can equip swords regardless of job
(does not apply to knight’s
swords or fell swords)
–Movement Abilities–
none
JP to master: 3750
–MY THOUGHTS–
The Knight’s greatest asset is not the Arts of War, but its fairly good
fighting stats and inherent ability to equip swords, heavy armor, and shields,
a power that can be transfered to other jobs with its support abilities. Equip
Heavy Armor helps make vulnerable jobs tougher, and Equip Sword is quite useful
for many of the story characters, who need to have a sword equipped in order to
use their special abilities.
Knights are also a good job late in the game, when you’ve learned all the
abilities you want and now just want to maximize your characters’ power. They
have good HP and attack power, and are one of the few jobs that can equip
knight’s swords, the single-player game’s most powerful weapons. (The only
other standard job that can use them is Dark Knight, which has quite a few
prerequisites to unlock).
The Arts of War abilities are only moderately useful as Knight. They have
fairly low accuracy and if you’re close enough to use them, you’ll often want
to just start attacking and KO the enemy rather than mess with his/her stats.
However, pairing Arts of War with a gun (e.g. by using the Orator’s Equip Gun
ability) or the Archer’s bows lets you use these attacks at a distance, which
makes them quite useful. You can break your enemies’ weapons before they can
get close enough to use them!
—ARCHER———————————————————————-
Required jobs : Squire lv. 2
Needed for jobs : Thief (lv. 3), Ninja (lv. 4)
Equippable weapons: Bows, crossbows Movement range : 3
Equippable armor: Shields, hats, clothes Jump height : 3
Physical evade : 10%
Stats When Active Job:
HP: *** MP: ** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: ***
Stat Growth Rates:
HP: *** MP: ** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *
–ABILITIES–
–Action Abilities: Aim–
Damage based on user’s: Physical Attack & Weapon Strength
RNG RAD
MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT
—————————————————————
Aim +1 * 4 Weapon Any Y 100 Charge up attack for more damage
Aim +2 * 5 Weapon Any Y 150 Charge up attack for more damage
Aim +3 * 6 Weapon Any Y 200 Charge up attack for more damage
Aim +4 8 Weapon Any Y 250 Charge up attack for more damage
Aim +5 10 Weapon Any Y 300 Charge up attack for more damage
Aim +7 14 Weapon Any Y 400 Charge up attack for more damage
Aim +10 20 Weapon Any Y 700 Charge up attack for more damage
Aim +20 35 Weapon Any Y 1200 Charge up attack for more damage
Each of these Aim abilities does more damage than the previous one, but also
takes longer to charge. (e.g., Aim +4 does more damage than Aim +3). Note
that if the enemy you’re targeting moves while you’re charging, your attack
will miss.
Aim does NOT prevent enemies from evading or blocking your attacks, despite its
name (and the effect of Aim in other Final Fantasy games).
–Reaction Abilities–
TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Adrenaline Rush * Any HP loss Yes 900 Raise Speed by 1
Archer’s Bane * Arrow attack Yes 450 Evade bow / crossbow attacks
–Support Abilities–
JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Equip Crossbows + 350 Can equip crossbows regardless of
job (does not apply to regular
bows)
Concentration * 400 Prevents enemies from evading your
physical attacks
–Movement Abilities–
JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Jump +1 200 Jump height + 1
JP to master: 5600
–MY THOUGHTS–
Archers make a very valuable addition to your team early in the game, when you
have few other range attacks. Later in the game, as you acquire guns, sword
techniques, and other ranged attacks, Archers become somewhat less useful. For
one thing, their Aim command is of limited value. The high Aims (Aim +10,
etc.) take too long to charge and there’s rarely any enemy you can target with
them. The short Aims will increase your damage a little and are worth using
when you have the chance, but don’t increase your offense enough to make them
worth choosing over another command.
Archer’s Bane, though, is a great reaction ability against enemy Archers —
with a high Bravery, you’re almost impervious to arrows! Since you’ll fight
Archers in quite a few battles throughout the game, this is a good ability to
learn early on. Later on, it becomes completely superceded with Shirahadori,
which (despite what the game says) blocks BOTH close-ranged and bow attacks.
Always equip your Archers with the 2-handed longbows rather than crossbows–
longbows do more damage, have a longer range, and don’t need a direct line of
fire. Crossbows do let you equip a shield at the same time, but since your
Archers should be on the back line anyway, they don’t need shields that much.
Note that Archers are in fact the ONLY standard job that can equip longbows.
The Equip Crossbows ability only let other jobs use crossbows (not longbows),
which makes the ability of dubious value since crossbows are not so good.
—MONK————————————————————————
Required jobs : Knight lv. 3
Needed for jobs : Geomancer (lv. 4), Samurai (lv. 5)
Equippable weapons: none Movement range : 3
Equippable armor: Clothes Jump height : 4
Innate ability: Brawler Physical evade : 20%
Stats When Active Job:
HP: ***** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: ***** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: ****
Stat Growth Rates:
HP: **** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *
–ABILITIES–
–Action Abilities: Martial Arts–
Damage based on user’s: Physical Attack
RNG RAD
MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT
—————————————————————
Cyclone 0 Self 2/0 Any – 150 Non-elemental attack
Pummel 0 1/1 1/- Any – 300 Non-elemental attack, does
variable damage (may be more or
less than estimate)
Aurablast 0 3/3 1/- Any N 300 Non-elemental attack
Shockwave * 0 4Dir 8/2 Any N 600 Earth attack
Doom Fist 0 1/0 1/- Any – 300 Causes Doom status (enemy is KOed
after 3 turns)
Purification * 0 Self 2/0 Any – 200 Removes Stone, Blind, Confuse,
Silence, Berserk, Toad, Poison,
Sleep, Immobilize, Disable
Chakra * 0 Self 2/0 Any – 350 Restores some HP and MP
Revive * 0 1/0 1/- Any – 500 Revives KOed character with
minimal HP
–Reaction Abilities–
TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Critical:RecoverHP Critical HP Yes 500 Restores HP completely
Counter * Phys. Attack Yes 300 Counter-attack with physical attack
First Strike * Attack command Yes 1300 Cancels enemy’s Attack command and
you attack enemy instead. Only
works if enemy is within your
range. Does NOT work against
generic monsters.
–Support Abilities–
JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Brawler +* 200 Raises unarmed attack strength and
increases effectiveness of Martial
Arts abilities and success rate of
Steal
–Movement Abilities–
JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Lifefont * 300 Restores HP whenever you Move
JP to master: 5300
–MY THOUGHTS–
Monks rock! In my opinion, they have the best selection of abilities in the
game. Shockwave and to a lesser extent Aurablast are decent offensive
abilities. And, they have three healing abilities that don’t require any
charge time: Chakra can restore HP *AND* MP to a group, Revive revives KOed
character and usually has an 80+% hit rate, and Purification cures a number of
status changes to a group. Martial Arts is a great command to have as it gives
you both offensive and defensive abilities packed into one ability slot. The
one caveat is that the healing abilities work only over a small vertical range
— you can’t Revive someone at a different height than you, for instance — so
be mindful of that during battle.
Monks also have great reaction abilities. Counter is a great reaction ability
to have in almost all situations. Getting counterattacks in response to enemy
attacks lets you do a LOT more damage. Against humans, First Strike is even
better since it cancels the enemy’s attack outright, but it’s not effective
against generic monster attacks — so don’t use it when you’re traveling the
map and will just be facing random battles. (First Strike *is* effective
against monster-like bosses and other "special" monsters.) Critical: Recover
HP can be moderately useful too since it can restore your HP to full and save
a critically wounded character, but many attacks can KO you outright and never
even put you in critical HP. (So, Counter is usually better.)
Another advantage of Monks is that they have good stats: they have a strong
attack and are pretty speedy. Consider pairing their attack with the Ninja’s
Dual Wield to get two punches and double your damage! Their only weakness is
that they can’t equip much in the way of armor, but Equip Heavy Armor can be a
good remedy for that.
—WHITE MAGE——————————————————————
Required jobs : Chemist lv. 2
Needed for jobs : Mystic (lv. 3), Arithmetician (lv. 5)
Equippable weapons: Staves Movement range : 3
Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3
Physical evade : 5%
Stats When Active Job:
HP: ** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: ****
Stat Growth Rates:
HP: **** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *
–ABILITIES–
–Action Abilities: White Magicks–
Damage based on user’s: Magick Attack & Faith, plus target’s Faith
RNG RAD
MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT
—————————————————————
Cure * 6 RA 4 4/* 2/1 Any N 50 Restores HP
Cura * 10RA 5 4/* 2/1 Any N 180 Restores HP (more)
Curaga 16RA 7 4/* 2/2 Any N 450 Restores HP (even more)
Curaja 20RA 10 4/* 2/3 Any N 800& Restores HP (best)
Raise * 10RA 4 4/* 1/- Any N 200 Revives KOed character with
half of maximum HP
Arise * 20RA 10 4/* 1/- Any N 600 Revives KOed character with full
HP
Reraise * 16RA 7 3/* 1/- Any N 1000 Gives Reraise status
(automatically return once
from KO)
Regen * 8 RA 4 3/* 2/0 Any N 350 Gives Regen status (restores HP
each turn)
Protect 6 RA 4 3/* 2/0 Any N 70 Gives Protect status (decreases
physical damage received)
Protectja 24 7 3/* 2/3 Any N 600 Gives Protect status
Shell 6 RA 4 3/* 2/0 Any N 70 Gives Shell status (decreases
magick damage received)
Shellja 20 7 3/* 2/3 Any N 600 Gives Shell status
Wall 24RA 4 3/* 1/- Any N 400 Gives both Protect and Shell
status
Esuna 18RA 3 3/* 2/2 Any N 300 Cures Stone, Blind, Confuse,
Silence, Berserk, Toad,
Poison, Sleep, Immobilize,
and/or Disable
Holy 56RA 6 5/* 1/- Any N 600 Holy attack
–Reaction Abilities–
TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Regenerate * Any HP loss Yes 400 Gain Regen status (restores HP each
turn)
–Support Abilities–
JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Arcane Defense * 400 Lowers damage received from magick
–Movement Abilities–
none
JP to master: 7070
–MY THOUGHTS–
White Mages are, of course, a healing oriented job; Holy is their only real
offensive spell. However, they tend not to be as effective on defense as
Chemists, since their spells consume MP and need time to charge up. The charge
time is particularly problematic if an ally has just been hit for a lot of
damage and you need to patch him/her up right away — you might not have time
to wait!
What’s GOOD about White Mages? Well, they can heal more than one character at
a time (since most of their spells affect more than one tile). They can cast a
few other "buffing" spells like Protect and Shell, though note these buffs can
miss if you have low faith or magick power! Their Arise spell is also capable
of restoring a character at full HP, which Phoenix Down or a Monk’s Revive
cannot do. They’re also the fastest of the mage jobs.
Overall, though, the charge times and MP costs associated with White Magick
make Chemists a better choice. If you’re likely to get any use out of White
Mages, it’s probably in the early stages of the game, when you’ll frequently
face barrages of weak attacks spread out against your team. Then, the ability
to heal multiple characters at once is important.
White Magick can also be used an offensive weapon against undead enemies,
though there aren’t too many undead enemies and most are pretty easy anyway.
Besides, you can use Chemists’ Items to hurt undead enemies too!
—BLACK MAGE——————————————————————
Required jobs : Chemist lv. 2
Needed for jobs : Time Mage (lv. 3), Arithmetician (lv. 5),
Dark Knight (Mastered!)
Equippable weapons: Rods Movement range : 3
Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3
Physical evade : 5%
Stats When Active Job:
HP: ** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: ** Mag. Atk.: ***** Speed: ***
Stat Growth Rates:
HP: ** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: ** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *
–ABILITIES–
–Action Abilities: Black Magicks–
Damage based on user’s: Magick Attack & Faith, plus target’s Faith
RNG RAD
MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT
—————————————————————
Fire * 6 RA 4 4/* 2/1 All N 50 Fire attack
Fira * 12RA 5 4/* 2/2 All N 200 Fire attack (stronger)
Firaga * 24RA 7 4/* 2/3 All N 500 Fire attack (even stronger)
Firaja 48 10 4/* 3/3 All N 900& Fire attack (strongest)
Thunder * 6 RA 4 4/* 2/1 All N 50 Lightning attack
Thundara 10RA 5 4/* 2/2 All N 200 Lightning attack (stronger)
Thundaga * 24RA 7 4/* 2/3 All N 500 Lightning attack (even stronger)
Thundaja 48 10 4/* 3/3 All N 900& Lightning attack (strongest)
Blizzard * 6 RA 4 4/* 2/1 All N 50 Ice attack
Blizzara * 12RA 5 4/* 2/2 All N 200 Ice attack (stronger)
Blizzaga * 24RA 7 4/* 2/3 All N 500 Ice attack (even stronger)
Blizzaja 48 10 4/* 3/3 All N 900& Ice attack (strongest)
Poison 6 RA 3 4/* 2/2 All N 150 Causes Poison status
Toad 12RA 5 3/* 1 All N 500 Causes Toad status, or cures Toad
status if target already a Toad
Death 24RA 10 4/* 1 All N 600 Instant KO
Flare * 60RA 7 5/1 1 All N 1000 Non-elemental attack
–Reaction Abilities–
TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Magick Counter Magick attack Yes 800 Counterattack w/ same spell
–Support Abilities–
JP EFFECT
————————————————————
Arcane Strength * 400 Increases damage inflicted by your
magicks. Also works for other
abilities that depend on your
Magick Attack stat, like Iaido,
Geomancy, and Limit
–Movement Abilities–
none
JP to master: 8400
–MY THOUGHTS–
When it comes to magick, Black Mages are the mythril standard — they have a
lot of MP (second only to Summoner in standard jobs, and third to Summoners
and Beowulf’s Templar job overall), and THE highest magick strength of any job.
Plus, they can equip rods that boost their magick abilities even further, and
their Arcane Strength makes their magick do more damage. In other words, the
magick abilities of other jobs get even stronger when used by a Black Mage —
so a great strategy is to learn spells from other jobs, then turn your
characters into Black Mages. (Or, even better, learn Arithmeticks and then
turn into a Black Mage so you can cast ALL spells at high power!) They’re the
best magick job available.
So, how about Black Mages’ own spells? Well, Black Magick tend to be pretty
useful–especially early in the game, when you have few other abilities that
can attack multiple enemies. Against monsters, you can also use Black Magick
to exploit their elemental weaknesses (check the Monsters section below to see
what they are).
Later in the game, Black Magick isn’t quite as effective since you have other
ways of attacking groups of enemies that don’t consume MP and don’t need to
charge (e.g., sword techniques, Iaido). Plus, the strongest Black Magick
spells take a while charge, although the Time Mage’s Swiftness support ability
is one remedy for this — or you could use Arithmeticks, which lets you cast
spells without charge time. Note that the -ja spells CANNOT be used with
Arithmeticks, so if you’re using Arithmeticks, you’ll probably want to learn
Flare before the -ja magicks. (On the other hand, -ja spells can’t be
reflected, so even if an enemy has Reflect, you can use -ja spells to still
attack with magick.)
Magick Counter is a decent reaction ability when faced when lots of enemy
mages, but there aren’t really too many situations where this is needed.
The Black Mage job must be Mastered to unlock Dark Knight. You can speed this
process if at least one character has already learned the -ja spells; cast them
on allied Black Mages and they may learn the magicks from being hit with them.
(See "Learning Magick from Being Hit" under Advanced Tactics for more on this
process.)
—TIME MAGE——————————————————————-
Required jobs : Black Mage lv. 3
Needed for jobs : Summoner (lv. 3), Arithmetician (lv. 4)
Equippable weapons: Staves Movement range : 3
Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3
Physical evade : 5%
Stats When Active Job:
HP: ** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: **** Speed: ***
Stat Growth Rates:
HP: ** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: ** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *
–ABILITIES–
–Action Abilities: Time Magicks–
Damage/success based on user’s: Magick Attack & Faith, plus target’s Faith
RNG RAD
MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT
—————————————————————
Haste * 8 RA 2 3/* 2/0 Any N 100 Gives Haste status (CT charges
faster)
Hasteja 30 7 3/* 2/3 Any N 600& Gives Haste status
Slow * 8 RA 2 3/* 2/0 Any N 80 Inflicts Slow status (CT charges
slower)
Slowja 30RA 7 3/* 2/3 Any N 600& Inflicts Slow status
Stop * 14RA 7 3/* 2/0 Any N 350 Inflicts Stop status (CT doesn’t
charge)
Immobilize * 10RA 3 3/* 2/1 Any N 100 Inflicts Immobilize status
Float 8 RA 2 4/* 2/1 Any N 200 Gives Float status (see below)
Reflect * 12RA 2 4/* 1 Any N 300 Gives Reflect status
Quick * 24R 4 4/* 1 Any N 900 Fills CT gauge – instant turn!
Gravity 24RA 6 4/* 2/1 Any N 250 Damage = 1/4 of user’s max HP
Graviga * 50RA 10 4/* 2/3 Any N 550 Damage = 1/2 of user’s max HP
Meteor 70 20 4/* 4/3 Any N 1500 Non-elemental magick attack
–Reaction Abilities–
TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT
———————————————————-
Critical: Quick * Critical HP Yes 800 Fills CT gauge to 100; instant turn!
Mana Shield * Any HP loss Yes 400 Damage dealt only to MP instead of
HP if MP >0
–Support Abilities–
JP EFFECT
———————————————————-
Swiftness * 1000 Reduces number of clock ticks needed
to charge up magicks & Limit
–Movement Abilities–
———————————————————-
Teleport * 650 Teleport to any square when moving
regardless of move range, height,
or obstacles/enemies in the way.
Chance of failure increases with
longer move distance. #
Levitate 540 Permanent Float status (can move
over water as if land, immune to
Earth-elemental attacks, and
increases height by 1)
# Teleport never fails if you teleport only within your regular horizontal move
range. For every additional tile beyond your move range, the chance of failure
increases by 10%. (Teleport always has an infinite vertical range and your Jump
stat has no effect on its failure rate.)
JP to master: 8920
–MY THOUGHTS–
Time Mages mostly play a support role, casting spells to assist allies or keep
the enemies from acting. These abilities can be quite useful, but it’s
probably a good idea to have another ability ready set from another job (e.g.
another magick command) to supplement them with more conventional offense or
defense. The Samurai’s Iaido, if available, is also a good choice since it’s
boosted by the Time Mage’s high magick attack but saves your MP for Time
Magick. Having good magick stats (Magick Attack and Faith) is also important
so that your Hastes and Slows are likely to succeed.
Meteor and the Gravity spells can also be good attack spells, but they can be
somewhat slow, especially Meteor. (Gravity and Graviga are particular useful
against major bosses since they are helpful in cutting down the bosses’ large
HP totals.) Try first casting Immobilize to keep enemies from running out of
your way out of your Meteor. The Time Mage’s own Swiftness support ability
also speeds the charge time of these spells. It’s good for Time Magicks as
well as for Summons and Cloud’s Limit attacks.
A great ability to transfer to other jobs is the Mana Shield reaction ability,
which makes damage go to your MP instead of your HP as long as you have at
least 1 MP. This isn’t so good for magick users since it quickly drains your
MP, but it can be great on physical fighters who weren’t going to use their MP
anyway — especially if you pair it with Manafont or another ability that lets
you recover MP quickly. Mana Shield is also very helpful in surviving the
Zodiark summon in order to learn it (see Summoner, below).
The Teleport movement ability is also extremely valuable, though isn’t *quite*
as great as it seems. While you can conceivably warp long distances with it,
the further you’re teleporting, the greater the likelihood the teleport will
fail and you’ll end up back where you started, unable to move at all that
turn. However, Teleport still lets you move through enemy units and gives you
an infinite vertical movement range, which completely changes how can you move
around certain maps. For instance, you can teleport right up a castle wall to
attack the Archers up there, or take a shortcut over the side of a cliff. This
can be very helpful in a number of story battles as it lets you get the jump on
range attackers. So just teleport at short ranges and you’ll be fine!
—SUMMONER——————————————————————–
Required jobs : Time Mage lv. 3
Needed for jobs : Bard (lv. 5), Mime (lv. 5)
Equippable weapons: Staves, rods Movement range : 3
Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3
Physical evade : 5%
Stats When Active Job:
HP: ** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: **** Speed: ***
Stat Growth Rates:
HP: ** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *
–ABILITIES–
–Action Abilities: Summon–
Damage based on user’s: Magick Attack & Faith, plus target’s Faith
RNG RAD
MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT
—————————————————————
Moogle 8 3 4/* 3/2 Ally N 110 "Moogle Charm": Restores HP
Shiva 24 7 4/* 3/2 Foe N 200 "Glacial Shards": Ice magick
attack
Ramuh * 24 7 4/* 3/2 Foe N 200 "Judgment Bolt": Lightning magick
attack
Ifrit 24 7 4/* 3/2 Foe N 200 "Infernal Blaze": Fire magick
attack
Titan * 30 10 4/* 3/2 Foe N 220 "Gaia’s Wrath": Earth magick
attack
Golem * 40 4 All allies N 500 "Earthen Wall": Blocks physical
attacks targeting allies until
its HP damage limit is reached
(not effective against monster
attacks)
Carbuncle 30 5 4/* 3/2 Ally N 350 "Ruby Light": Gives Reflect
status
Bahamut 60 15 4/* 4/3 Foe N 1600&"Megaflare": Non-elemental attack
Odin 50 13 4/* 4/3 Foe N 900& "Obliteration": Non-elemental
attack
Leviathan 48 13 4/* 4/3 Foe N 860& "Tidal Wave": Water magick attack
Salamander 48 13 4/* 3/2 Foe N 860& "Wyrmfire": Fire magick attack
Sylph * 26 7 4/* 3/2 Foe N 400 "Whispering Wind": Inflicts
Silence status
Faerie * 28 7 4/* 3/2 Ally N 400 "Fey Light": Restores HP
Lich * 40 10 4/* 3/2 Foe N 600& "Descending Darkness": Dark
attack; does damage equal to
1/2 of target’s maximum HP but
may miss
Cyclops 62 12 4/* 3/2 Foe N 1000&"Climactic Fear": Non-elemental
attack
Zodiark * 99 17 4/* 4/3 Foe N & "Darkening Cloud": Non-elemental
attack
When Summons are used, a special attack name (not just the name of the sword)
is displayed — these are listed in quotation marks above.
The Zodiark summon cannot be purchased with JP; it must be learned from the
boss on the last floor of the bonus dungeon. See the Midlight’s Deep battle
strategies for more tips on how to learn it.
–Reaction Abilities–
TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT
———————————————————-
Critical:Recover MP Critical HP Yes 400 Restores MP to maximum
–Support Abilities–
JP EFFECT
———————————————————-
Halve MP * 1000 Halves MP cost of abilities
–Movement Abilities–
none
JP to master: 9800
–MY THOUGHTS–
While summons don’t have quite the power in FF Tactics as they do in some other
FF games, they’re still strong. Plus, they have a wide effect radius, and,
unlike Black and White Magick, don’t hurt your teammates or heal the enemies.
The Summon command also offers you a nice mix of both offensive abilities and a
few defensive ones: Moogle and Faerie restore HP, and the very useful Golem
summon blocks all enemy physical attacks for a while. The Lich summon is also
particularly effective against many of the game’s major bosses; it always takes
away half their maximum HP despite their high HP totals.
The disadvantages of Summons are that they take quite a while to charge and
cost a fair amount of MP. The former could be remedied with the Time Mage’s
Swiftness ability, which shortens charge time. MP costs can be dealt with
using the Summoner’s own Halve MP support ability to decrease MP costs, with
equipment that boosts your max MP (all robes, and some hats), or with the
Chemists’s Ethers & Hi-Ethers. There are also some abilities that let you gain
MP from your enemies: The Mystic’s Absorb MP lets you absorb MP from enemy
spells, or you could also pair Summon with Mystic Arts to use Empowerment to
steal enemy’s MP. (Orlandeau’s Duskblade and Beowulf’s Syphon can also steal
MP.) Unfortunately, you can’t equip *both* Swiftness and Halve MP as they use
the same support ability slot, but you could pair Swiftness with MP-boosting
equipment, Items, Empowerment, or Absorb MP.
If you’re trying to master jobs for the purposes of powering up Onion Knight,
note that Summoner isn’t considered Mastered until you learn Zodiark.
—THIEF———————————————————————–
Required jobs : Archer lv. 3
Needed for jobs : Dragoon (lv. 4), Ninja (lv. 5)
Equippable weapons: Knives Movement range : 4
Equippable armor: Hats, clothes Jump height : 4
Physical evade : 25%
Stats When Active Job:
HP: *** MP: * Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: ****
Stat Growth Rates:
HP: *** MP: ** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: ***
–ABILITIES–
–Action Abilities: Steal–
Success based on user’s: Speed
RNG RAD
MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT
—————————————————————
Steal Gil 0 1/1 1/- Foe – 10 Steal small amount of gil
Steal Heart * 0 3/1 1/- Foe N 150 Inflicts Charm; only effective on
monsters and opposite sex
Steal Helm * 0 1/1 1/- Foe – 350 Steal target’s helmet
Steal Armor * 0 1/1 1/- Foe – 450 Steal target’s armor
Steal Shield * 0 1/1 1/- Foe – 350 Steal target’s shield
Steal Weapon * 0 1/1 1/- Foe – 600 Steal target’s weapon
Steal Accessory 0 1/1 1/- Foe – 500 Steal target’s accessory
Steal EXP 0 1/1 1/- Foe – 250 Steal target’s current EXP
–Reaction Abilities–
TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT
———————————————————-
Vigilance Any HP loss Yes 200 Enter into "Defend" state (doubles
evade rates)
Gil Snapper Any HP loss 200 Receive gil equal to HP lost
Sticky Fingers Throw 200 Blocks Ninja’s Throw attack; thrown
item is added to your inventory!
–Support Abilities–
JP EFFECT
———————————————————-
Poach * 200 Monsters KOed with physical attack
are poached and disappear from the
map; item becomes available at
Poachers’ Den
–Movement Abilities–
JP EFFECT
———————————————————-
Move +2 * 560 Movement range + 2
Jump +2 500 Jump height + 2
JP to master: 4520
–MY THOUGHTS–
Thieves are poor at magick and only moderately strong physically. But, boy,
are they fast! Their movement range and jump height are both 4, so they can
get across the map quickly.
This job is useful mainly for its abilities. Stealing your opponents’
equipment not only cripples them, but adds items to your inventory–and this is
the best way to get a number of rare items! If you like getting rare items,
you’ll also want Poach; many pieces of equipment can only be obtained through
poaching monsters. (A side note about Poach: this also has the advantage of
removing monsters’ bodies from the map, preventing them from getting revived.)
You could just learn the crucial Steal abilities and then move onto other job.
Ninja, in particular, might be a good to graduate your Thief too, since the
success of Steal is affected by your speed–and Ninjas are even faster than
Thieves!
When Thieves aren’t stealing, they can also fight. Since they can only equip
knives, though, their offense can be somewhat weak on its own. You may want to
use an ability like Equip Axes or Equip Swords to bolster their offense.
If you’re planning on using Steal Heart at all, a female Thief is somewhat more
advantageous to have than a male Thief, as Steal Hearts works on the opposite
gender and there are somewhat more male enemies than female ones.
Move +2 is also a great movement ability and makes characters quite a bit more
mobile. Note that this ability supercedes the Squire’s Move +1 in every way
— there’s absolutely no trade-off or downside to selecting Move +2 over Move
+1 once you’ve learned +2.
The Thief’s reaction abilities, on the other hand, tend not to be too useful.
Gil Snapper is worthless as the amount of gil you receive from it is so small–
the same goes for Steal Gil. Sticky Fingers is not particularly useful for the
bulk of the game as you won’t fight too many Ninjas, but can be used in the
optional sidequests to harvest rare weapons from high-level enemy Ninjas. So,
again, if you like rare items, Thief is your job š
—ORATOR———————————————————————-
Required jobs : Mystic lv. 3
Needed for jobs : Bard (lv. 5), Mime (lv. 5)
Equippable weapons: Knives, guns Movement range : 3
Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3
Innate ability: Beast Tongue Physical evade : 5%
Stats When Active Job:
HP: *** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: ***
Stat Growth Rates:
HP: *** MP: * Phys. Atk.: ** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *
–ABILITIES–
–Action Abilities: Speechcraft–
Success based on user’s: Magick Attack
RNG RAD
MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT
—————————————————————
Entice * 0 3/3 1/- Foe N 100 Target becomes a guest ally and
joins permanently after battle.
(Does not work on story
characters.)
Stall 0 3/3 1/- Any N 100 Resets target’s CT
Praise 0 3/3 1/- Any N 200 Raises Bravery by 4 #
Intimidate * 0 3/3 1/- Any N 200 Lowers Bravery by 20 &
Preach 0 3/3 1/- Any N 200 Raises Faith by 4 #
Enlighten * 0 3/3 1/- Any N 200 Lowers Faith by 20 &
Condemn 0 3/3 1/- Any N 500 Causes Doom status (enemy is KOed
after 3 turns)
Beg 0 3/3 1/- Foe N 100 Receive gil from enemy
Insult 0 3/3 1/- Any N 300 Causes Berserk status
Mimic Darlavon 0 3/3 2/* Any N 300 Causes Sleep status
Speechcraft abilities cannot target monsters unless the user has the Beast
Tongue ability. Orators have this ability innately, but other jobs will have
to equip it.
# Note: These abilities change Faith or Bravery by 4. 3 points of this change
remains only for the battle, but 1 is permanent.
& Note: These abilities change Faith or Bravery by 20. 5 points of this change
is permanent.
–Reaction Abilities–
TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT
———————————————————-
Earplug Speechcraft Yes 300 Cancels Speechcraft ability used on
character
–Support Abilities–
JP EFFECT
———————————————————-
Equip Guns +* 800 Can equip guns regardless of job
Tame 500 Physical attacks will recruit
monsters if they have critical HP
(< 20% of max)
Beast Tongue +* 100 Can use Speechcraft against monsters
–Movement Abilities–
none
JP to master: 3900
–MY THOUGHTS–
Like Time Mages, Orators play a supplementary role. One of their main purpose
is to recruit enemy units — if you want to recruit monsters on this team, you
need this job! (To recruit monsters, either use Entice + Beast Tongue, or
equip Tame and hit monsters with a physical attack.)
Equip Guns is the other key Orator ability. While Orators can equip guns
naturally, Equip Guns lets you transfer this ability to other jobs. Having the
long range of a gun is handy for "support" jobs that aren’t going to be on the
front lines.
Finally, the Orator lets you play with Bravery and Faith statistics. Boosting
your Bravery is particularly useful as it increases the strenght of some
attacks and makes your Reaction Ability more likely to activate — and has no
side effects. However, you can just as easily raise your Bravery with Ramza’s
Steel ability, which also has the advantage that it never misses. Since Faith
controls both the damage you deal with magick and receive from enemy magick, it
can also be advantageous to raise your magick users’ Faith (making them
stronger) and lower everyone else’s Faith (since they won’t be using magick,
decreasing their Faith makes enemy magick less effective). It’s not essential
to tweak your Bravery and Faith like this, but if you DO want to do so, a good
tactic is to do it in a random battle against weaker monsters (e.g. at Mandalia
Plain), where you can use Speechcraft with less enemy interference. A tough
story battle is not a good place to grind Bravery and Faith.
You can safely skip Earplug since you’ll face enemy Orators only very rarely.
—MYSTIC———————————————————————-
Required jobs : White Mage lv. 3
Needed for jobs : Orator (lv. 3), Arithmetician (lv. 4)
Equippable weapons: Staves, rods, poles, books Movement range : 3
Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3
Physical evade : 5%
Stats When Active Job:
HP: ** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: **** Speed: ***
Stat Growth Rates:
HP: ** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: ** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *
–ABILITIES–
–Action Abilities: Mystic Arts–
Success based on user’s: Magick Attack & Faith, plus target’s Faith
RNG RAD
MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT
—————————————————————
Umbra 4 RA 2 4/* 2/1 Any N 100 Causes Blind status
Empowerment * 2 2 4/* 1/- Any N 200 Drains MP from target to caster;
amount drained is 1/3 of
target’s maximum MP
Invigoration 16 2 4/* 1/- Any N 350 Drains MP from target to caster;
amount drained is 1/4 of
target’s maximum HP
Belief * 6 RA 4 4/* 1/- Any N 400 Causes Faith status (character
has 100 Faith; both character’s
own magick and others’ magick
targeting the character are
maximally effective)
Disbelief * 6 RA 4 4/* 1/- Any N 400 Causes Atheist status (character
cannot use magick but is also
immune to others’ magick)
Corruption 20RA 5 4/* 1/- Any N 300 Causes Undead status
Quiescence 16RA 3 4/* 1/- Any N 170 Causes Silence status
Fervor 16RA 5 4/* 1/- Any N 400 Causes Berserk status
Trepidation * 20RA 4 4/* 1/- Any N 200 Lowers target’s Bravery by 30
Delirium 20RA 5 4/* 1/- Any N 400 Causes Confuse status
Harmony 34 A 3 4/* 1/- Any N 800 Removes Float, Reraise, Regen,
Invisible, Protect, Shell,
Haste, Faith, Reflect
Hesitation * 10RA 5 4/* 2/0 Any N 100 Causes Disable status
Repose 24RA 6 4/* 2/1 Any N 350 Causes Sleep status
Induration 16RA 10 4/* 1/- Any N 600 Causes Stone status
–Reaction Abilities–
TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT
———————————————————-
Absorb MP Magick Yes 250 Gain MP equal to MP cost of spell
–Support Abilities–
JP EFFECT
———————————————————-
Defense Boost * 400 Lowers physical damage received
–Movement Abilities–
JP EFFECT
———————————————————-
Ignore Weather 200 Move through swamps at normal speed
even if it’s raining; cancels
weather effects on Black Magick
Manafont 350 Restores some MP whenever you move
JP to master: 5970
–MY THOUGHTS–
Mystics specialize in inflicting status conditions on their foes. These spells
often fail, so if you want to use this job, a character with high Faith is
necessary to increase your success rate. In general, though, Mystic is just
not a very useful job. They don’t have much in the way of direct offense or
defense, and their status affliction spells just aren’t useful enough to
compensate for their charge time, MP cost, and success rate. Mustadio and,
later, Beowulf are much more effective at inflicting these kinds of status
conditions.
Defense Boost can be a somewhat useful support ability, however.
—GEOMANCER——————————————————————-
Required jobs : Monk lv. 4
Needed for jobs : Ninja (lv. 2), Dancer (lv. 5), Mime (lv. 5),
Dark Knight (lv. 8)
Equippable weapons: Swords, axes Movement range : 4
Equippable armor: Shields, hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3
Physical evade : 10%
Stats When Active Job:
HP: *** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: ***
Stat Growth Rates:
HP: **** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *
–ABILITIES–
–Action Abilities: Geomancy–
Damage based on user’s: Physical Attack & Magick Attack
RNG RAD
MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT
—————————————————————
Sinkhole * 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Non-elemental attack, causes
Immobilize
Torrent 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Water attack, causes Toad
Tanglevine * 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Non-elemental attack, causes Stop
Contortion * 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Non-elemental attack, causes
Stone
Tremor 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Earth attack, causes Confuse
Wind Slash * 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Wind attack, causes Disable
Will-o’-the-Wisp * 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Fire attack, causes Sleep
Quicksand 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Water attack, causes Doom
Sandstorm 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Wind attack, causes Blind
Snowstorm 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Ice attack, causes Silence
Wind Blast 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Wind attack, causes Slow
Magma Surge 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Fire attack, instant KO
All Geomancy abilities do more damage when the user has high physical attack
and magick attack stats, but magick attack increases the damage more than
physical attack.
Note: During battle, only one Geomancy ability is available for use at any
given time. The available ability is determined by the terrain type of the
tile on which the user is standing:
