==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==--~~==-- FINAL FANTASY TACTICS For the Sony PlayStation An FAQ/Walkthrough Copyright 2005 Richard Beast & Steve McFadden ==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==~~==--==--~~==-- |--------------------------------- | v1.00 - Final Guide Statistics | |--------------------------------- | Originally Started 5/1/05 | | Finally Finished 5/21/05 | | Last Updated 5/21/05 | | Total Size in KB 553.2K | ---------------------------------- ================== Table of Contents: ================== -!NOTE!- This guide, as you will soon see, is pretty big. Seeing as how this takes effect, you will most likely be lost in trying to find out what you want to read. There is one way to get to it, instantly. Press Ctrl + F, and then look for whatever you want. Let's say you want to go to the Basics section. Type in "IV. Basics", and then you'll go to the bosses section, instantly! Pretty neat, eh? -=+-------------+=-------------+=-------------+=-------------+=-------------=+ I. Introduction - ** FINISHED ** II. Legal Disclaimer - ** FINISHED ** III. Contact Rules - ** FINISHED ** IV. Basics - ** FINISHED ** V. Jobs/Monsters - ** FINISHED ** VI. Characters - ** FINISHED ** VII. Walkthrough - ** FINISHED ** VIII. Side Quests - ** FINISHED ** IX. Equipment - ** FINISHED ** X. Shops/Items - ** FINISHED ** XI. FAQ - ** FINISHED ** XII. Outro/Credits/Revision History - ** FINISHED ** -=+-------------+=-------------+=-------------+=-------------+=-------------=+ Download the following badass songs while reading this awesome guide: Rich - "The Last Resort" by The Eagles, "Planning a Prison Break" by The Receiving End of Sirens Steve - "Step Up" by Drowning Pool, "Dolphin's Cry" by Live ~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= +=+=+=+=+=+ I. INTRODUCTION +=+=+=+=+=+ ~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= =-=-=-= Rich's =-=-=-= This makes, like my millionth guide; I've lost count of how many I've done now. But anyway, this makes quite a bit into my writing career, including my fourth co-authored guide, and second with Psycho Penguin. This guy is a great friend and awesome RPG writer, so put his skills with my, errr... slightly superior ones (sorry Steve ;]), and you can end up with quite a bit of stuff. But in any case, Final Fantasy Tactics was a game that both of us had been intending to write for for quite a while, so we decided to put our hands together and do the guide together. Hope you enjoy. But anyway, this is just how the guide will go: first you read the incredibly boring introduction, legal disclaimer, contact rules, and such; then you get to the game basics. That you do... but anyway, we tried to make the game basics section less boring than the in-game tutorial, so don't worry. After that, we cover the jobs and monsters in the game, along with all of their abilities, then the special characters which differ from regular characters. After that, the walkthrough, and the optional battles, done by myself. Following that, the equipment and shops/items sections, done by Steve. As well, a Frequently Asked Questions section for questions which may get asked a lot, most in which we made up. So anyway, hope you enjoy. =-=-=-= Steve's =-=-=-= Hello my friends, we meet again! It's been a while, where should we begin? Well, let's see here. I wanted to get motivated again for FAQ writing, after a wonderful 2 months with my girlfriend, I had to be separated from her for a while. It's hard back here but I'm trying to keep my mind off it by writing. I was writing a huge guide for another popular game, but it's going to take a while so I wanted a side project, to show that I am not dead. Enter my good friend Richard Beast! He's so sexy, and he saw I was feeling bad and decided to offer another co-write. Our first one, Mega Man 3, went well despite the fact that I took forever to finish it. This time I won't take so long, I promise. Anyways, I offered Star Ocean 3, but he thought FFT was a better idea. I thought about it and agreed.. I could easily do a SO3 guide, but I'm not a FFT master, and doing a guide by myself would be a pain in the ass. Besides, this brings me one step closer to writing for all the Final Fantasy games. After this, I'll have 3, 7, 8, and TA to go.. and I have 7, 8, and TA started already. Take care everyone and I'm glad to be back in the FAQ writing scene. Hopefully, this won't be the last you hear from me! - Psycho Penguin ~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= +=+=+=+=+=+ II. LEGAL DISCLAIMER +=+=+=+=+=+ ~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= =-=-=-= Rich's =-=-=-= You are NOT permitted to put this FAQ on your site without my permission first. All you have to do is email me or IM me saying you want this FAQ on your site, then you can tell me your site and the chance is high that I'll let you. But if you put this FAQ on your site without my permission I swear you will regret it. If I let you, not ONE word should be changed from this FAQ! NOT ONE! Got it? Good. Also, make sure that no money is involved. If you want this FAQ to be sold on eBay, then just forget about it, man. And don't sell this guide either, or pay people to use it, or you'll be in such big trouble you don't want to think. Another little note is that I will not have this guide hosted on many other web sites besides GameNotOver, GameFAQs, IGN, and Neoseeker. You need full-on permission if it's not one of the four above sites. I am sick of people ripping me off (I have been ripped off three times in the past), so if I don't like your site, I won't let my guide be posted on it. I am sorry, but this is how it has to be. If you ask politely and I like your site, you will definitely have the luck of getting it up there. Thank you very much. =-=-=-= Steve's =-=-=-= If you steal my guide and attempt to make money off it, I will slice your balls off and eat your current kids. If you just want to use it on your website, go right ahead, but make sure to ask Rich first just to be safe. I personally don't care as long as you keep it intact and don't make any money off of it. ~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= +=+=+=+=+=+ III. CONTACT RULES +=+=+=+=+=+ ~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= =-=-=-= Rich's =-=-=-= Oh, and also, rules for contacting me. Those are important, ya? First of all, feel free to check out the stuff I've written on GameFAQs. Those include a guide for Mega Man 5, a few other Mega Man games, and tons of random PSX games. Honor to the PSX, yanno? Hopefully, that'll be added with awesome Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Tales of Symphonia guides. As you might be able to guess, I'm a large RPG fan and writer. Alright, enough shameless advertisement about me. You can e-mail me if there is a question you wish to ask that hasn't been answered in the guide, but I REALLY don't want to bother answering questions that have already been done, answered, and done again in the guide, if it isn't too much trouble. Feel free to tell me if there's something I've forgotten, however. My e-mail address is richard_power1000 [at] yahoo [dot] com. Except, replace the [at] and spaces with a "@" symbol and the [dot] and spaces with a period; I have to write like that so I don't get a dozen spam bots e-mailing me and getting me viruses. Just be polite in the e-mail, don't talk like "omg wtf rich ur gides r t3h su><0rz & how du i beat teh first batl", and don't ask something that's already been answered in the guide, and I'll respond. And don't bother sending things like: "You friggin' idiot. Your guides suck, you suck, and everything about you sucks. DIE DIE DIE!" "BURN IN THE FLAMES OF HELL, YOU STUPID RETARD!!!" "What the hell did you think you were doing writing all that garbage, you piece of crap? "I hope you fall down the stairs and break every bone in your body!" "u su><0rz, eVrYtInG BoUt u sUx, dIe ass!!!!!!1" I will laugh at such e-mails and delete them. So... if you're not just playing a friendly joke on me or something, don't bother with that crap cos I've been through with it too much. Okay, that's enough for that. My AIM name is rbeast288; sorry, I don't have MSN or YIM. The list is closed, but I'll add you if you ask politely via e- mail. I like chatting with people, but try not to overdo it on AIM if I add you to my list. Since I am busy a majority of the time and all. =-=-=-= Steve's =-=-=-= You can check out all of my other guides on GameFAQs, which will hopefully include a very sexy Tales of Symphonia guide soon. I can't wait to finish that thing. I did guides for a lot of Final Fantasies, as well as some random Castlevania and wrestling games, and both Tales of Destiny games. Check them out! And there's always Final Fantasy 12 and NCAA Football 2006 to look forward to... I appreciate any information you can contribute, especially to jobs and abilities list, as well as stuff I missed, walkthrough, etc. Anything can help. Also, feel free to email any questions that would be good for a FAQ section, as I plan to add one to a future update. Any errors and omissions that you may see can be corrected if you inform me of them. I'll also credit you, if your error or omission is actually correct and worth an update for me to fix. I am somewhat busy, you know. That's about it. If anyone would like me to add anything, you can always email me. AIM: JuanDixonFor3 MSN: mcfa4834@bellsouth.net YIM: nicklacheysnightmare If you contact me on one of the instant messengers, and I do not respond, it probably means I am busy. I am always talking with my girl, and friends, so sometimes I just ignore some instant messages from people I do not know. Be nice, and I will talk to you, just don't come out and ask the question and be all rude if I do not respond in five seconds, otherwise I probably will just block you. I will answer all e-mails about the game, however. You can contact me by emailing me at penguin_faqs@#yahoo.com One last note: Only email me about the game at penguin_faqs@yahoo.com, all emails about Final Fantasy Tactics sent to my other e-mail addresses will be deleted and/or ignored. Thanks to all those that have emailed me so far, I appreciate it! 1. Check my email backlog. If it's filled up, you may have to wait a while before you get a response. 2. I check my email once in a while. Please wait for a response, because I will respond to all emails. 3. Please read my guide before asking questions, that's why I have a FAQ and Reader Tips section. 4. I will only post your question/tip in my guide if it is good, and has not been answered in this guide. Also, I have AIM and Yahoo. My AIM name is JuanDixonFor3, but PLEASE do not harass me with annoying questions or I'll block you. I only wish to chat with people. ~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= +=+=+=+=+=+ IV. GAME BASICS +=+=+=+=+=+ ~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= Controls --------- * The controls come right from the awesome FFT manual. Thanks! * ABOUT THE SELECT BUTTON On every screen, you can see Help Message by pressing the select button, then pointing the cursor to the matter you want to learn about. Whenever there is something you do not understand, try to press the select button. * There are some exceptions. CIRCLE BUTTON (CB) (Battlefield) * Decide * Open the menu for the unit you chose with the cursor. When in the STATUS window, if you press it once more, you get JOB LEVEL, and if you press once more you can confirm the learned ABILITY. * When cursor free, return the cursor to the unit. (World Map) * Decide * Call out bar, shop, and other establishment on the cursor. X BUTTON (XB) (Battlefield) * Cancel * Display the range of possible movement of the unit chosen with the cursor. * At this time, you can scroll the map by controlling the directional keys. (World Map) * Cancel SQUARE BUTTON (SB) (Battlefield) * Cursor cancel (While pressing it, the friendly unit and enemy unit are distinguished by color) * At this time, you can scroll the map by using the directional keys. * While pressing it, you can scroll the message wiindow. (World Map) * Have it pressed, the world map can be scrolled with controlling the directional keys. * While pressing, you can scroll the message window. This operation can be used anywhere, on formation screen and city/street establishments. TRIANGLE BUTTON (TB) (Battlefield) * Open menu window * Even in the middle of a battle that is progressing on auto, STANDBY can be made by pressing the triangle button. (World Map) * Call out the menu window. DIRECTIONAL KEYS (Battlefield) * Move cursor. * When cursor cancel, move the screen up/down/left/right (World Map) * Move cursor R1 BUTTON (Battlefield) * Make the map rotate rightward (World Map) * Display and return the complete map. R2 BUTTON (Battlefield) * Change the horizontal level of the map. (World Map) * Not used. L1 BUTTON (Battlefield) * Make the map rotate leftward. (World Map) * Display and return the complete map. L2 BUTTON (Battlefield) * Change the zoom of the map (enlarge, shrink) (World Map) * Not used. SELECT BUTTON (Battlefield) * Call out the Help Message. (World Map) * Call out the Help Message. START BUTTON (Battlefield) * Cursor will point to units not associated with friendly/enemy forces. * When cursor free, return cursor to unit. (World Map) * Call out the Help Message. * Call out the menu window. ABOUT SOFT RESET: You can soft reset by pressing START, SELECT, R1 and L1 buttons all at the same time. * The controls above are the basic controls. Job System ----------- I love the job system in Final Fantasy Tactics. It is one of the most involving and deep systems to ever come out of a video game. The basic premise is simple. Your character has a choice of (eventually) 20 jobs to master. Each job has its own benefits and drawbacks, so choosing the right job for each character is the key to winning. Also, having a well balanced party is very important. Five Knights may seem cool, but their lack of moving space and their short-ranged attacks may cause problems eventually. The first thing to do is go to the menu system and hit triangle at a character to bring up their "change job" line on the screen. Choose it, and your character will be surrounded by a circle of jobs that they can change into. If the job is grayed out, it means that the character needs to fulfill the requirements needed to unlock the job. Each job has a different requirement, and you can learn each job's requirement by going to section 5 below. Change into the job, and you can now learn abilities. Each ability has a certain amount of JP needed to learn. Once you learn the ability, you can equip it, NO MATTER WHAT JOB YOU ARE. Learn Two Swords, and suddenly your White Mage can equip two swords! You only get a total of four abilities at once, though, so choices are limited. There are four different types of abilities. Action: Lets you have a 2nd command ability. Black Magic, Throw, etc. Reaction: Stuff like Counter and Hamedo go here. Blade Grasp is awesome. Support: Helps support a character. Gained JP Up, Monster Skill, etc. Movement: Helps you increase movement spaces, lets you walk on water, etc. Each ability costs a different amount of JP to learn. How do you learn JP? Simple, you perform an action during battle. As long as it works, you'll gain EXP and JP. As you gain more JP, your character's job level will go up. Why is this important? You'll learn more JP as your character's job level goes up! A level 8 character with Gained JP Up will gain 51 JP for each ability performed! Isn't that cool? Also, an awesome tip that not a lot of people may know about. Each time your character does an ability with a job and gains JP, your other characters will gain 1/4 of the JP in that class (1/6 if Gained JP Up is equipped). That means that if a Wizard does an ability and gains 32 JP, the other characters will learn 8 Wizard JP as well! Leveling up jobs will become much easier as you go through the game, as you may turn a character into a Wizard and they'll be on level 5 and have 700 JP already! Finally, knowing what job to have your character at is important. If your character has high faith, have them be a magic user, but if their brave is high, use physical jobs instead. Having a well balanced party is key as well. Mix up physical attackers with long-range magic users for best balance. The game becomes much easier if you have the right abilities and know how to use them! Battle System -------------- The job system of Final Fantasy Tactics isn't that hard to understand, but it may give some people some problems. Just read here instead of the boring ass tutorial in the game itself. ;) Anyway, Final Fantasy Tactics is a role-playing strategy game and is thus played out on panels. You have a party made out for you come the beginning of the game, as well as a job system in which you can completely manipulate how your guys will grow. Like most good players do in chess, I'll call the characters "units" to avoid confusion. Before most battles, you'll get to place 5 units in total across the battle field. Occasionally you'll split into two "squads" with three in one squad and two in another squad, and some battles force you to have only two, but that's another story. In a unit's turn, they get to do two things: those are Move and Act. Moving, obviously, is based on going back and forth between the panels. Usually most of the battlefield is elevated, to which the number at the upper-right will tell you the height. How much we can move is based on two things: our Move and our Jump. You can increase Move and Jump with Battle Boots and Spike Shoes respectively (or even better, Germinas Boots, which destroy the purpose of both of these!), the movement ability (there are Move+1 through Move+3 as well as Jump+1 through Jump+3, as well as Ignore Height, which gives infinite jump, or Teleport, which gives perhaps 7 movement depending on the layout). Acting is different. As Steve has already told you (and hopefully you understood it =P), there are the abilities of the class you're using, as well as those of a support class. And of course, you can't forget attacking. Stuff like that, is done in Acting. Along with Moving and Acting, there's Waiting. If you've Moved and Acted, then Waiting will be done automatically. But otherwise, if you don't want to do one or the other (or both), you can choose to Wait right there, and your turn (aka AT) will come quicker. So with that, we come to the most important principle in all of Final Fantasy Tactics. That's speed. Yep, speed. In a character's status, it'll display the speed, and you want that to be as high as possible. Final Fantasy Tactics runs on a kind of "clock tick" system... that is, everything starts from 0 and then (don't worry, you don't have to wait on this), the first person to reach a CT of 100 can move/act first. Of course, most people get to 100 first, but usually it's an enemy unless you're much higher leveled or, of course, it's one of your guest units. =P Once you take a turn, the CT will drop back to 0, but if you do only one out of moving and acting, it won't be completely depleted, and if you do neither, it'll be around 50 or so. But anyway, that's it for speed. Two other things to look at are PA and MA, as well as male and female balance. The higher your PA is, the more damage you'll do with physical attacks, as well as abilities like those of Holy Sword. And the higher your MA is, the more damage you'll do with magical attacks, and thus the more effective. However, males have higher PA than MA, and females have higher MA than PA, so I'd make my physical characters apart from Samurais male, whereas the magical characters should be female. A bit more about some things you should look at, especially when it comes to magic. Lots of abilities require charging. Take a look at a Squire and compare it to a Wizard, for example. Notice how next to the Squire's abilities, it says "Now", whereas a number is next to a Wizard's. If the number is there, it's an ability that must be charged, and the number is how many turns it will take to charge. A cool thing is pressing left or right there, and you'll see which and what characters will go before the spell gets charged, black denoting allies and red denoting enemies. That's pretty nice. Finally, there's a way to tell exactly how much damage, the accuracy, and the possible status effect that an attack will do before using it. When you select the target, look to the bottom left. -XXX HP, XX%, etc... I recommend ALWAYS checking that. However, the damage there can be a little inaccurate for these attacks, to name a few: the Squire's Dash and Throw Stone, a Monk's Repeating Fist, and any physical attack caused by a hammer or an axe, which is why you should never use them. The last two factors are Brave and Faith, which are both extremely, extremely important statistics. First of all, Brave. Ever have a reaction ability on, and got frustrated by how rarely it worked, whereas the enemy always had theirs work? Or ever go to the front of an enemy and try to slash them to pieces, only to have them block your attack? The higher your Brave is, the more chance you have of using your reaction ability, or of dealing out damage. It's always good to have high Brave, with one sole exception: if you have Move-Find Item. Most cases, you can find either one excellent item or one crappy item, and your Brave is the percentage of finding the crappy item. Ouch. Other than that, you should always have high Brave. Just don't let it go below 10, or the unit will turn into a chicken and lose control of itself. =P If it goes below 3, the unit just leaves your party. Very unthoughtful. But anyway, after that comes Faith. Ever wonder why some spells would do 40 damage to one enemy and 70 to another? Faith is the primary factor. Faith determines how much damage your magic does, and what magic's effect on you is, either defensive or offensive, as well as the accuracy. So it's kind of a double edged sword, but being able to do more damage with magic outweighs being able to withstand it, since there are more physical enemies than magical. Keep physical attackers at a low Faith, however. But no matter, what don't let the Faith rise too high, because once it gets to 97, the unit will leave you to lead a religious sort of life. =P So don't create fake Messiahs, no matter how desperate you are. Anyway, that's probably all you need to know. Enjoy the game's wonderful battles. :) Other Tips ---------- Here is just a section where we give out tips for newbies to the game. - Don't waste a lot of time on one job if you're not going to use the abilities that the job is learning, unless you really want/need the job. You don't get anything special for mastering a job in this game, so just get the abilities that you need and move onto the next job. With all the jobs and abilities available in the game, you won't want to waste time focusing on a job/ability you won't use. - When a character dies, they have a red balloon counter over their head. Revive them before the counter turns to zero! If you don't, they turn to crystal and you lose access to them for the rest of the game. - You can use this to your advantage, though. Let's say you have a generic character, but you want, say, Agrias to learn their abilities. Have the generic die, and have Agrias absorb the crystal and choose to learn the abilities. Agrias now learns all that stuff. ;) - Defeating human characters and getting their abilities via crystal is an excellent way to learn new abilities. You need to have the job class unlocked to learn their abilities, though. If you kill a Calculator, you can't learn their abilities without having the Calculator job unlocked for the character absorbing the crystal. - Try to spread out your characters as much as possible when faced with summoners, black magic users, etc. so their magic spells only hit one character instead of 3 or 4. - When attacking an enemy, always try to aim for the side or the back to increase the chances of landing a successful hit. - When the game asks you if you want to save, save on a different file if you can. Usually, you get into a boss battle next, and if you can't beat it with your current abilities and jobs, you may be screwed! - When buying weapons/armor for a party member, be wary of the "best fit" option. It's been known to give magic users a helmet that reduces MP and increases HP! I usually just "try it on", as it gives characters individuality better. - Also, be wary of weapons like Bags and Flails. While they do good damage sometimes, they also do horrible damage sometimes as well. I prefer just using the other weapon that the job class can use. Ninjas can use Ninja Swords, and females can use whatever weapon their job allows. - One last thing. Brave Story is a pretty cool feature that lets you read an awesome story about the war, as well as keep track of all sorts of cool things, like how many enemies you've killed, how many characters have been killed, etc. Plus, you can rewatch older story scenes! ~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= +=+=+=+=+=+ V. JOBS/MONSTERS +=+=+=+=+=+ ~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= Final Fantasy Tactics simply RUNS on a job system, so this is probably more important than it appears; just telling ya. You may not use monsters at all, but eh. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \\ \\ \\ +-+-+ Jobs +-+-+ // // // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ABILITIES KEY NAME ----- In-game description. * More in-depth description.* Range: How far the skill goes. Effect: How many spaces the skill affects. JP: JP it costs to learn/master this skill. |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Squire ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: N/A The starting path to Knights and Monks, Archers and Thieves, Geomancers and Lancers, Samurais and Ninjas... and as one might expect, it sucks. They can equip weapons such as Hammers and Axes which few other classes can... but hey, those weapons suck, period. They can equip swords, but hey, so can Knights. They're incapable of equipping much of the better, heavier equipment, and have no good things worth learning aside from Gained JP Up and Move+1, which should be kept on everyone on just about any occasion. Add the very mediocre stat growth to any Squire par Ramza, and you get a bad class. As you might expect, the Squire has next to no abilities to speak of. Dash is a grossly overrated ability, it's only advantage being that it is 100% accurate. It'll never do more than about 40-50 damage unless you build up your power in every way possible... Throw Stone is only good if you want to cure someone of Charm or Confusion; it's another very weak damaging attack. Heal has little to no quality whatsoever; it's a very unreliable status curing move compared to a Monk's Stigma Magic. Accumulate is an excellent ability, but not worth leaving Basic Skill on. If you REALLY need these, just have Ramza with Guts. Of course, Ramza is a Squire but is an excellent character, but still... =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ----------- Basic Skill ----------- ACCUMULATE ---------- Charge up one's power to raise physical attack power. * Physical attack increases by 1. * Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 300 DASH ----- Run into enemy with body. * Knocks a target back one space. * Range: 1 Horizontal, 1 Vertical Effect: 1 JP: 80 THROW STONE ------------ Throw stones at a distant enemy. * Knocks a target back one space. * Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 90 HEAL ----- Recover from abnormal status effects. * Cures the Darkness, Silence, and Poison status effects. * Range: 1 Horizontal, 2 Vertical Effect: 1 JP: 150 --------- Reaction --------- COUNTER TACKLE --------------- Counter with a dash attack. * Allows you to counter an enemy's attack with a dash, knocking them back one square. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 180 -------- Support -------- EQUIP AXE ---------- Equip axe regardless of job. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 170 MONSTER SKILL -------------- Target friendly monster within a range of 3 acquires new abilities. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 DEFEND ------- Defend and prepare for attack. Select act command, 'Defend'. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 50 GAINED JP UP ------------- Amount of JP earned in battle is increased. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 ----- Move ----- MOVE +1 -------- Increase movement range by 1. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Chemist ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: N/A The difference between a Squire and a Chemist in quality is so great, it makes me chuckle. Seriously, the Chemist has even worse stat growth than the Squire, but other than that it's an excellent class that makes you point the finger and laugh hysterically at the Squire. The Chemist can equip Guns, which is in itself a tremendous prop. It can throw items, which have less potential and are more expensive, but altogether more reliable than the Priest's White Magic. In this game, healing can be very important, and items are really the best way of doing it, as long as you have Throw Item handy. In terms of abilities, all of them are useful, but some are just plain not worth learning. Potion, Hi-Potion, and X-Potion should not be passed up under any means, but the single most essential item to learn is Phoenix Down, of course. =P You should learn at the very least, Ether, but that's as far as you need to delve into the MP restoring path. Antidote and Echo Grass can be at times, useful, and Eye Drop, Maiden's Kiss, Soft, and Holy Water are complete wastes. Remedy is worth considering, although I'd learn that much later. And finally, Equip Change and Maintenance are very useful in chapter 4 when you're up against strong Knights, as well as Meliadoul, Rofel, and Vormav. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ----- Item ----- POTION ------- Use a Potion item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 30 HI-POTION ---------- Use a Hi-Potion item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 200 X-POTION --------- Use a X-Potion item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 300 ETHER ------ Use an Ether item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 300 HI ETHER --------- Use a Hi-Ether item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 400 ELIXIR ------- Use an Elixir item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 900 ANTIDOTE --------- Use an Antidote item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 70 EYE DROP --------- Use an Eye Drop item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 80 ECHO GRASS ----------- Use an Echo Grass item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 120 MAIDEN'S KISS -------------- Use a Maiden's Kiss item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 200 SOFT ----- Use a Soft item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 250 HOLY WATER ----------- Use a Holy Water item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 400 REMEDY ------- Use a Remedy item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 700 PHOENIX DOWN ------------- Use a Phoenix Down item. Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 90 --------- Reaction --------- AUTO POTION ------------ Use lowest available potion when attacked. * Triggered by HP damage. * Range: Auto Effect: 1 JP: 400 -------- Support -------- THROW ITEM ----------- Be able to throw items and expand range, even if not a Chemist. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 350 MAINTENANCE ----------- Equipped items are immune to break techniques. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 250 EQUIP CHANGE ------------- Change equipment even in battle. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 0 ----- Move ----- M0VE-FIND ITEM --------------- Find any hidden items at your destination. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 100 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Knight ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Squire (level 2) Knights are huge steps above Squires, although you'll fight Knights in almost every battle in the whole game, and they're just not THAT good. :) Still, what they mainly have going for them if that they can equip helmets and armor, which gives them stellar HP (although the Lancer has that much). They can obviously equip Swords, but as one might expect, the problem is that they are so slow and are just not mobile. While they have awesome power, the speed is lacking, so they're like big tanks. All the same, they're capable of doing more damage than almost any other class physically, especially if you equip them with Knight Swords, which are by far the best weapons in the game. The abilities are for breaking the enemy's stats and equipment. While they're obviously nowhere near as good as the Thief's steal abilities, they have far more chance of working. Speed Break is DEFINITELY worth learning, as even a Calculator can get a turn or two before the enemy if you use this enough. And obviously, Weapon Break is awesome. It's a major pity these aren't like Zalbag's Ruin skills, but hey, these don't need to be charged. ;) Weapon Guard is vital for Thieves and Ninjas (Main Gauches) and Dancers (any clothes); with the full potential of this, the enemy can miss more than hit. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ------------- Battle Skill ------------- HEAD BREAK ----------- Used to destroy item equipped on enemy's head. Range: Weapon dependant. Effect: N/A JP: 300 ARMOR BREAK ------------ Used to destroy item equipped on enemy's chest. Range: Weapon dependant. Effect: N/A JP: 400 SHIELD BREAK ------------- Used to destroy equipped shield of enemy. Range: Weapon dependant. Effect: N/A JP: 300 WEAPON BREAK ------------- Used to destroy equipped weapon of enemy. Range: Weapon dependant. Effect: N/A JP: 400 MAGIC BREAK ------------ Diminishes enemy's MP. Range: Weapon dependant. Effect: N/A JP: 250 SPEED BREAK ------------ Diminishes enemy's speed level. Range: Weapon dependant. Effect: N/A JP: 250 POWER BREAK ------------ Diminishes enemy's attack power. Range: Weapon dependant. Effect: N/A JP: 400 MIND BREAK ----------- Diminishes enemy's magic attack power. Range: Weapon dependant. Effect: N/A JP: 250 --------- Reaction --------- WEAPON GUARD ------------- Parry attacks with equipped weapon. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 ------- Support ------- EQUIP ARMOR ------------- Equip armor regardless of job. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 500 EQUIP SHIELD ------------- Equip shield regardless of job. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 250 EQUIP SWORD ------------- Parry attacks with equipped weapon. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Archer ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Squire (level 2) Archers are, as almost everyone agrees, a very mediocre job class. They have among the lowest HP of any job class, and most battles are complete handicaps for Archers. They do, however, have a few good points going for them. They've got some innate good movement and speed, but the main problem is power and weapons. Later on, their attacks become VERY weak, even if they can attack from a long range. The greater your height, the farther your arrow can go, so in a few battles, you can use this to your advantage. The main abilities of an archer, however, are complete wastes of time and JP learning. You're best off learning Charge + 2 and Charge + 5, and that's it. Charge + 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 20 are their ONLY abilities, and many of these never work unless you use a Time Mage along with the archer. However, they have Jump + 1 as a movement ability, which occasionally comes in handy. They also have the extremely useful Concentrate support ability, ensuing 100% success rate of an attack. If you're going to build an archer up, do that for their abilities, or to get to level 3 for a Ninja. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ------- Charge ------- CHARGE +1 ----------- Attack requires charging. The more you charge, the stronger attack power will be. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 100 CHARGE +2 ----------- Attack requires charging. The more you charge, the stronger attack power will be. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 150 CHARGE +3 ----------- Attack requires charging. The more you charge, the stronger attack power will be. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 CHARGE +4 ----------- Attack requires charging. The more you charge, the stronger attack power will be. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 250 CHARGE +5 ----------- Attack requires charging. The more you charge, the stronger attack power will be. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 300 CHARGE +7 ----------- Attack requires charging. The more you charge, the stronger attack power will be. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 CHARGE +10 ----------- Attack requires charging. The more you charge, the stronger attack power will be. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 600 CHARGE +20 ----------- Attack requires charging. The more you charge, the stronger attack power will be. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 1,000 --------- Reaction --------- SPEED SAVE ----------- Raise speed. * Triggers HP Damage. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 800 ARROW GUARD ------------ Evade bow/crossbow attack. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 450 -------- Support -------- EQUIP CROSSBOW --------------- Equip crossbow regardless of job. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 350 CONCENTRATE ------------ Cannot evade your attacks. If enemy is in targeted panel, attack is sure to succeed. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 ----- Move ----- JUMP +1 -------- Increases jump elevation by 1. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Monk ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Knight (level 2) The Monk is definitely one of the best job classes to be found in FFTactics. They have almost everything, that being decent speed along with excellent power and decent HP for what they are. There's only problem; they cannot equip headgear. Headgear isn't important just for the extra HP, but because of things such as Thief Hats and Twist Headbands, which raise Speed and Power, which would have been a HUGE bonus for them. Oh well... they can still equip clothes and accessories. Based on abilities, they have one of the best sets in the entire game because of how versatile it is. You have one ability which hits targets around you, one which hits enemies in a line, one projectile attack, one attack which can either do a ton or very little damage, one attack which causes Death Sentence, one status recovery spell, one spell which recovers lots of HP and even MP, and even a spell which brings dead characters back to life! Just... how can you beat that? They become somewhat outdated around chapter 3 because of not being able to wear headgear, but they're godsends during chapter 2. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ---------- Punch Art ---------- SPIN FIST ---------- Attacks with spinning fists. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 REPEATING FIST --------------- Punch repeatedly with one's fist. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: 1 JP: 300 WAVE FIST ---------- Attacks from afar by emitting battle spirits. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: 1 JP: 300 EARTH SLASH ------------ Unleashes a spirit in a straight line, splitting the earth along its path. Range: 4 Directions Effect: Horizontal 8, Vertical 2 JP: 600 SECRET FIST ------------ Causes death gradually, striking vital points and blood vessels. * Adds the Death Sentence status effect. * Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: 1 JP: 300 STIGMA MAGIC ------------- Recovers abnormal status by emitting the yin spirit. * Removes the Petrify, Darkness, Confusion, Silence, Berserk, Frog, Poison. Sleep, Don't Move, and Don't Act status effects. * Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 200 CHAKRA ------- Restores HP and MP by focusing one's mind on vital pressure points and blood vessels. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 350 REVIVE ------- Calls back dead units with a loud cry Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1 JP: 500 --------- Reaction --------- HP RESTORE ----------- Restore HP when terminal. * Triggers Critical. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 500 COUNTER -------- Counter with a physical attack. * Triggered by a physical attack. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 300 HAMEDO ------- Attack before being attacked. * Triggered by a physical attack. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 500 -------- Support -------- MARTIAL ARTS ------------- Gain the bare-handed fighting strength of a monk. * Non-Monk characters get the attack power of a monk when bare handed. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 ----- Move ----- MOVE-HP UP ----------- Recover HP as you move. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 300 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Thief ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Archer (level 2) As much as I love fast job classes, the Thief class comes along as being just a little mediocre, sadly. They ARE faster than your average class, but it's no huge difference. They have VERY low PA and MA, making them almost a joke once in chapter 3. That being said, they do have their strengths. They have quite high Move and Jump, as well as even the movement abilities of Move +2 and Jump + 2, which are EXTREMELY useful. Their abilities also make a great secondary to most characters. But anyway, the most important Thief skill, especially if your Thief is of the female sex, is Steal Heart. Using this skill, you can "charm" a member of the opposite sex (or a monster) to help you for a while, or until they end up attacked. Steal Gil and Steal EXP are pretty much obsolete, but their regular abilities, those being steals of weapons, shields, helmets, armors, and even accessories, comes in quite handy. I'd try and get all five equipment steal abilities before mid chapter 4, but preferably from bar propositions. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ------ Steal ------ GIL TAKING ----------- Steals gil. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: 1 enemy JP: 10 STEAL HEART ------------ Charms an enemy that is of the opposite sex. * Adds the Charm status effect. * Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: 1 enemy JP: 150 STEAL HELMET ------------- Used to steal equipped helmets. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: 1 enemy JP: 350 STEAL ARMOR ------------ Used to steal equipped armor. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: 1 enemy JP: 450 STEAL SHIELD ------------- Used to steal equipped shield. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: 1 enemy JP: 350 STEAL WEAPON ------------- Used to steal equipped weapons. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: 1 enemy JP: 600 STEAL ACCESSORY ---------------- Used to steal equipped accessories. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: 1 enemy JP: 500 STEAL EXP ---------- Used to steal experience from an enemy. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: 1 enemy JP: 250 --------- Reaction --------- CAUTION -------- Takes a defensive position. * Adds in several defense power points. Triggered by HP damage. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 GILGAME HEART -------------- Receive gil in the amount of damage you received. * Triggered by HP damage. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 CATCH ------ Catch a thrown item and keep it. * Triggered by an enemy throwing an item at you. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 -------- Support -------- SECRET HUNT ------------ If you beat a monster, you can take it to a fur shop. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 ----- Move ----- MOVE +2 -------- Increase movement range by 2. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 520 JUMP +2 -------- Increase jump elevation by 2. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 480 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Geomancer ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Monk (level 3) While slightly overrated, Geomancers are still an excellent job class, barring abilities. They can equip swords, believe it or not, and they have some fairly good HP and MA; certainly some of the best of characters in the warrior path. Counter Flood, their reaction ability, is a perfect reaction ability. Together with this, the Geomancer's abilities allow you to manipulate the elemental powers of the Wizard, as well as possibly cause status effects, putting any Oracle out of business! And as unbelievable as it may sound, Geomancers have fantastic PA. Not only this, but Attack UP is the perfect support ability. The only problem I have is that the damage of the Geomancer's abilities is very weak, and that you have to be standing on the right terrain to use them. Still, you get to control the elements and even have a small chance of causing status effects with these (casting Stop and Petrify is especially nice) simply cannot be resisted. First of all, some abilities I'd recommend you learn are Pitfall, Hell Ivy, Carve Model, Water Ball, and Gusty Wind. There are very few chances in the game to use Blizzard, Sand Storm, or especially Lava Ball, so I'd pass those up. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ---------- Elemental ---------- PITFALL -------- Elemental that damages with a warp in space-time. * Adds the Don't Move status effect. * Range: Horizontal 5, Vertical 5 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 WATER BALL ----------- Elemental that damages with the mysterious power of water. * Adds the Frog status effect. Is a water element attack. * Range: Horizontal 5, Vertical 5 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 HELL IVY --------- Elemental that damages with the mysterious power of plants. * Adds the Stop status effect. * Range: Horizontal 5, Vertical 5 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 CARVE MODEL ----------- Elemental that damages with the mysterious power of stones. * Adds the Petrify status effect. * Range: Horizontal 5, Vertical 5 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 LOCAL QUAKE ------------ Elemental that damages with the mysterious power of rocks. * Adds the Confusion status effect. Is an earth element attack. * Range: Horizontal 5, Vertical 5 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 KAMAITACHI ----------- Elemental that damages with atmospheric power. * Adds the Don't Act status effect. Is a wind element attack. * Range: Horizontal 5, Vertical 5 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 DEMON FIRE ----------- Elemental that damages with mysterious powers within the place. * Adds the Sleep status effect. Is a fire element attack. * Range: Horizontal 5, Vertical 5 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 QUICKSAND ---------- Elemental that damages with a warp in space-time. * Adds the Don't Move status effect. * Range: Horizontal 5, Vertical 5 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 SAND STORM ----------- Elemental that damages with the mysterious power of dust. * Adds the Darkness status effect. Is a wind element attack. * Range: Horizontal 5, Vertical 5 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 BLIZZARD -------- Elemental that damages with the mysterious power of snow. * Adds the Silence status effect. Is an ice element attack. * Range: Horizontal 5, Vertical 5 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 GUSTY WIND ----------- Elemental that damages with the mysterious power of wind. * Adds the Slow status effect. Is a wind element attack. * Range: Horizontal 5, Vertical 5 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 LAVA BALL ---------- Elemental that damages with atmospheric power. * Adds the Dead status effect. Is a fire element attack. * Range: Horizontal 5, Vertical 5 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 --------- Reaction --------- COUNTER FLOOD -------------- Counter with geomancy. * Triggered by a geomancy or physical attack. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 300 -------- Support -------- ATTACK UP ---------- Can cause great damage with a physical attack. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 ----- Move ----- ANY GROUND ----------- Walk easily over waterlands like rivers. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 220 MOVE OVER LAVA --------------- Move and stop over rocks. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 150 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Lancer ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Thief (level 3) In my opinion, Lancers are even better than Knights, albeit not a class you'd expect to see after Archer or Thief. ;) Lancers are superior to Knights in terms of mobility and abilities, and especially power. A Lancer can jump a slow character in the air (doing this to a Wizard, Time Mage, or Summoner is quite juicy, I might add), and learn jump abilities to improve this. However, what gives a Lancer its true shining point is the movement ability Ignore Height. You'll be using this one a lot because if you have it, you can ignore Jump like it doesn't exist. The Lancer's abilities, as in Level Jump 4, Vertical Jump 2, etc., are not really abilities, but kind of extensions to a Lancer's incredibly powerful Jump ability. Level corresponds to how far across you can jump, and Vertical corresponds to the height, so yeah, extensions. The thing is, you can learn the highest tier Level Jump, and you can jump that far, AND everywhere else, so you can just ignore all the other abilities except the best, and learn them with the best! Personally, my advice is to learn Level Jump 3 and Vertical Jump 3, then just learn the highest tier Level Jump, and the best Vertical Jump. Since I'm sure many don't know exactly what the timing of Jump is, this is how it works: the timing is equal to 50 / the Lancer's speed. So let's say the Lancer's speed is 10, we'll have the timing at 5. What do I mean by this, you ask? Well, anyway, we have to consider enemy CT. Let's say we have an enemy with a speed of 5, and a CT of 60. Our timing is 5, and its speed is 5, so multiply those and you get 25. 60 + 25 = 85; it'll have to be 100 if the enemy wants to avoid the jump. ;) But let's say its speed is 10. Then it'll be 50, and that plus 60 is 110, so it can move out of the way before you land. That's how it works, in a nutshell. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ----- Jump ----- LEVEL JUMP 2 ------------- Allows you to jump 2 panels horizontally. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 150 LEVEL JUMP 3 ------------- Allows you to jump 3 panels horizontally. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 300 LEVEL JUMP 4 ------------- Allows you to jump 4 panels horizontally. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 450 LEVEL JUMP 5 ------------- Allows you to jump 5 panels horizontally. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 600 LEVEL JUMP 8 ------------- Allows you to jump 8 panels horizontally. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 900 VERTICAL JUMP 2 ---------------- Allows you to jump 2 panels vertically. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 100 VERTICAL JUMP 3 ---------------- Allows you to jump 3 panels vertically. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 VERTICAL JUMP 4 ---------------- Allows you to jump 4 panels vertically. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 300 VERTICAL JUMP 5 ---------------- Allows you to jump 5 panels vertically. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 VERTICAL JUMP 6 ---------------- Allows you to jump 6 panels vertically. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 500 VERTICAL JUMP 7 ---------------- Allows you to jump 7 panels vertically. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 600 VERTICAL JUMP 8 ---------------- Allows you to jump 8 panels vertically. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 900 --------- Reaction --------- DRAGON SPIRIT -------------- Protection from death. * Adds an Auto-Raise effect. Triggered by death. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 560 -------- Support -------- EQUIP SPEAR ------------ Equip spear regardless of job. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 ----- Move ----- IGNORE HEIGHT ---------------- Jump to any height regardless of jumping ability. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 700 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Priest ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Chemist (level 2) A Priest is kind of a better version of a Chemist. The first thing to notice is that the Priest has better stats than a Chemist; the primary thing is Speed, which wins out nicely. Other than that, Priests have far better MA than a Chemist; the only problem is that they don't get guns, whereas Chemists do. Oh well, a Priest is far more capable than a Chemist when it all comes down to it, plus they get to equip a Healing Staff, while can be a quick, invaluable alternative to using magic! As for abilities, the Priest, as we all know it, relies on curative magic for what it does. The curative abilities are all worth learning, except for Cure4, which takes way too long to charge and the extra HP gain really isn't worth it in comparison to Cure3. Reraise might also be a skip over, because it costs so much JP to learn. Protect, Shell, and Wall are all useful, although the advanced versions should just be skipped over. And as for Holy... what more can I say? It's beautiful work in what it does, and better than Flare in my honest opinion. Combine that with Math Skill, and you win out. =D ----------- White Magic ----------- CURE ----- White magic cures physical injuries and restores HP. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 JP: 50 CURE 2 ------- White magic cures physical injuries and restores HP. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 JP: 180 CURE 3 ------- White magic cures physical injuries and restores HP. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 2 JP: 400 CURE 4 ------- White magic cures physical injuries and restores HP. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 3 JP: 180 RAISE ------ White magic revives dead units from abyss. Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 180 RAISE 2 -------- White magic revives dead units from abyss. Full HP recovery. Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 500 RERAISE -------- Divine protection. Once cast, will raise units automatically upon death. Range: 3 Effect: 1 JP: 800 REGEN ------ White magic restores a unit by gradually replenishing its HP. Range: 3 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 300 PROTECT -------- White magic protects units from physical attacks by covering them with invisible armor. Range: 3 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 3 JP: 70 PROTECT 2 ---------- White magic protects units from physical attacks by covering them with invisible armor. Range: 3 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 3 JP: 500 SHELL ------ White magic protects units from magic attacks by covering them with an invisible magic veil. Range: 3 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 70 SHELL 2 -------- White magic protects units from magic attacks by covering them with an invisible magic veil. Range: 3 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 3 JP: 500 WALL ----- White magic protects units from physical and magic attacks by covering them with an invisible barrier. Range: 3 Effect: 1 JP: 380 ESUNA ------ White magic cancels abnormal status with its purifying light. Range: 3 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 2 JP: 280 HOLY ----- White magic attacks by enveloping enemy within a holy light. Range: 5 Effect: 1 JP: 600 --------- Reaction --------- REGENERATOR ------------ Receive Regen when attacked. * Triggered by HP Damage. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 -------- Support -------- MAGIC DEFEND UP ---------------- Magic attack defense is increased. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Wizard ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Chemist (level 2) Wizards are great characters to use in battle, and if you have a choice between having a Wizard or a Summoner in the battle, I'd opt for the Wizard because the Summoner has such bad speed. The Wizard is about as fast as a Priest, which is definitely good enough. In random battles, a Wizard is one of the best classes you can bring, since tons of monsters have a weakness to either fire, ice, or lightning. They aren't QUITE as much of weak death machines as they were in the classic FFs, but they're still very useful allies. It's pretty obvious that a Wizard is the opposite of a Priest; they rely on offensive magic rather than defensive. All the abilities are worth learning on their own, although it's really not worth learning Fire3, then Ice3, then Bolt3 if you have Bolt2... but anyway, Frog can turn your enemies into absolute... well, toads. And that's not to mention Flare, which is extremely powerful, but I really prefer to use Holy, which is much cheaper than Flare. Magic Attack UP is definitely worth learning; Counter Magic is not. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ----------- Black Magic ----------- FIRE ----- Black magic erupts in a blazing volcano. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 JP: 50 FIRE 2 ------- Black magic erupts in a blazing volcano. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 2 JP: 200 FIRE 3 ------- Black magic erupts in a blazing volcano. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 3 JP: 480 FIRE 4 ------- Black magic erupts in a blazing volcano. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 JP: 850 BOLT ----- Black magic strikes down in a flash of lightning. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 JP: 50 BOLT 2 ------- Black magic strikes down in a flash of lightning. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 2 JP: 200 BOLT 3 ------- Black magic strikes down in a flash of lightning. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 3 JP: 480 BOLT 4 ------- Black magic strikes down in a flash of lightning. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 JP: 850 ICE ---- Black magic releases falling ice chards. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 JP: 50 ICE 2 ------ Black magic releases falling ice chards. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 2 JP: 200 ICE 3 ------ Black magic releases falling ice chards. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 3 JP: 480 ICE 4 ------ Black magic releases falling ice chards. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 JP: 850 POISON ------- Black magic creates poison inside one's body, gradually lowering HP as the body is consumed from inside. * Adds the Poison status effect. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 JP: 50 FROG ----- Black magic turns target into a frog. Can also be used to reverse the effects of this spell. * Adds the Frog status effect. * Range: 3 Effect: 1 JP: 500 DEATH ------ Black magic slays target instantly by removing its soul. Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 600 FLARE ------ Black magic burns an entire area by converting ultra-energy to heat. Range: 5 Effect: 1 JP: 900 --------- Reaction --------- COUNTER MAGIC -------------- When attacked by magic, counter with same. * Triggered by Magic Damage. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 800 -------- Support -------- MAGIC ATTACK UP ---------------- Magic attack power is increased. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Oracle ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Priest (level 2) Oracles, in my honest opinion, are really not that great of a job class at all. I mean, sure, they're useful, but they might be seen as wastes of time when you're trying to use abilities on the enemy that miss all the time. The best use I have for Yin Yang Skill is really putting it as a secondary on a Knight or physical attacker, so that if they can't reach the enemy, they can handicap them a bit. The statistics are about the same as a Priest or a Wizard, although they have the advantage of being able to equip Sticks. That being said, Yin Yang Magic DOES have its uses, but the problem is that once you get Beowulf in your active party (who is an awesome physical attacker as well as being able to immediately utilize the effects of Yin Yang Magic on an enemy whereas an Oracle has to take time to charge the magic and goes down far easier than Beowulf), building up an Oracle is just plain useless. Sure, they get multiple targets with the spells, but some just far too long to charge. Still, Life Drain ALONE is just superb, and whenever you fight a Zodiac beast, you should use it. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- --------------- Yin-Yang Magic --------------- BLIND ------ Yin Yang magic blinds enemy and lowers the rate of physical attacks. * Adds the Darkness status effect. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 JP: 100 SPELL ABSORB ------------- Yin Yang magic absorbs enemy's MP, restoring one's own MP. Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 200 LIFE DRAIN ----------- Yin Yang magic absorbs enemy's HP, restoring one's own HP. Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 350 PRAY FAITH ----------- Yin Yang magic fills soul with faith. * Adds Faith. * Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 400 DOUBT FAITH ------------ Yin Yang magic makes targets lose their faith, reducing their faith level. * Reduces Faith. * Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 400 ZOMBIE ------- Yin Yang magic brings bodily death. * Adds the Undead status effect. * Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 300 SILENCE SONG ------------- Yin Yang magic mutes enemy, making it impossible to cast spells. * Adds the Silence status effect. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 JP: 170 CHICKEN SONG ------------- Yin Yang magic lowers brave level. Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 200 CONFUSION SONG --------------- Yin Yang magic makes enemy lose rationality and act confused. * Adds the Confuse status effect. * Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 400 DISPEL MAGIC ------------- Yin Yang magic cancels positive status effect by neutralizing Yin and Yang. * Cancels all positive status effects. * Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 700 PARALYZE --------- Yin Yang magic doesn't allow enemy to take action. * Adds the Don't Act status effect. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 100 SLEEP ------ Yin Yang magic immediately puts enemy to sleep. * Adds the Sleep status effect. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 JP: 350 PETRIFY -------- Yin Yang magic immediately turns enemy's body to stone. * Adds the Petrify status effect. * Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 600 --------- Reaction --------- COUNTER MAGIC -------------- Restore your MP by the same amount your enemy used. * Triggered by MP Effect. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 250 -------- Support -------- DEFENSE UP ----------- Physical defense power is increased. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 ----- Move ----- ANY WEATHER ------------ Walk easily over swamps, marshes, poison marshes, regardless of climate. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 MOVE-HP UP ---------- Recover MP as you move. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 350 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Time Mage ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Wizard (level 2) Time Mages are, without a doubt, one of the best magic classes in the entire game. The speed isn't as bad as Summoners, fortunately, and they get some good MA. However, I recommend having your character who's building himself up as a Wizard/Summoner skip Time Mage, while your Priest build herself up a little as she is and then switch over to Time Mage, since Oracle and Mediator really are not worth getting experience as, in my opinion. The set of abilities on the Time Mage, especially the Reaction, Support, and Movement choices, are among the best of any class in the game. Meteor, while being very slow, is capable of doing huge damage; same goes to the faster Demi and Demi 2, which take off 1/4 and 1/2 HP from an enemy, respectively. Quick isn't bad, but I'd pass that up until later. And you can't forget Stop or Don't Move, which are particularly good on Wizards and Knights. Critical Quick is an awesome reaction ability and good for physical classes. Short Charge is also good for mages, and Teleport is great as an alternative to Jump. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ----------- Time Magic ----------- HASTE ------ Time Magic increases speed by accelerating time. * Adds the Haste status effect. * Range: 3 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 50 HASTE 2 -------- Time Magic increases speed by accelerating time. * Adds the Haste status effect. * Range: 3 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 3 JP: 550 SLOW ----- Time Magic decreases speed by slowing the passage of time. * Adds the Slow status effect. * Range: 3 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 80 SLOW 2 ------- Time Magic decreases speed by slowing the passage of time. * Adds the Slow status effect. * Range: 3 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 JP: 520 STOP ----- Time Magic puts target in stasis, preventing its AT from occurring. * Adds the Stop status effect. * Range: 3 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 330 DON'T MOVE ----------- Time Magic breaks space apart, making it impossible to move. * Adds the Don't Move status effect. * Range: 3 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 JP: 100 FLOAT ------ Time Magic distorts space, lets one float 1h above the ground. * Adds the Float status effect. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 JP: 200 REFLECT -------- Time Magic creations that reflect magic by inverting magic space. * Adds the Reflect status effect. * Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 300 QUICK ------ Time Magic vastly increases the speed of time passage, hastening AT. Range: 4 Effect: 1 JP: 800 DEMI ----- Time Magic damages with the powerful pull of gravity by creating ultra high- density space. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 JP: 250 DEMI 2 ------- Time Magic damages with the powerful pull of gravity by creating ultra high- density space. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 3 JP: 550 METEOR ------- Time Magic unleashes a huge meteor from the heavens, devastating its target. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 4, Vertical 3 JP: 1,500 --------- Reaction --------- CRITICAL QUICK --------------- When HP level is lessened, your AT is executed next. * Triggered by HP Damage. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 700 MP SWITCH ---------- Physical damage is converted into magic damage. MP is lost instead of HP. * Triggered by HP Damage. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 -------- Support -------- SHORT CHARGE ------------- CT is shortened. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 800 ----- Move ----- TELEPORT --------- Distort time, moving immediately into your destination. Moving too far will end in failure. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 600 FLOAT ------ Float 1h over land automatically. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 540 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Mediator ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Oracle (level 2) Much like the Oracle, I think the Mediator has some potential once brought out, but just... not nearly as much as the Wizard, Time Mage, Priest, and Summoner. They have one shining advantage, and that is that they can equip guns. But honestly, they do not fit into the magical path at all. Their MA is EXTREMELY low, and Triangle Hats, Wizard Robes, and Magic Gauntlets, all put together, are going to make the MA average at best. And you'd expect with low MA, you'd get high PA, but you don't. Nor do you get higher HP. Personally, I recommend you just ignore them unless going for a Bard, Mime, or completion. The set of abilities isn't too bad, but some seem to be ones that could have just been given to the Oracle class. Invitation is by FAR their best ability; you can completely put the Thief skills out of business with this, unless it's a boss or something. With this, you can get an enemy on your side, and when they join you after that battle, take all of their equipment for free. ;) Their other abilities are fine and all, but still, I'd opt to turn my Priest into a Time Mage after she has enough White Magic learned; Oracle and Mediator just do not satisfy me. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ----------- Talk Skill ----------- INVITATION ----------- Word skill tricks enemy into becoming an ally. * Adds the Invitation status effect. * Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: 1 JP: 100 PERSUADE --------- Word skill used to ask enemy to wait its turn to act. * Adds the Persuade status effect. * Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: 1 JP: 100 PRAISE ----------- Word skill raises Brave level by complimenting the target and raising their confidence. * Increases Brave * Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: 1 JP: 200 THREATEN --------- Word skill lowers Brave level by frightening target. * Lowers Brave * Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: 1 JP: 200 PREACH ------- Word skill used to raise faith by preaching the miracles of God. * Increases Faith * Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: 1 JP: 200 SOLUTION --------- Word skill used to lower Faith by preaching about other secular theories. * Lowers Faith * Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: 1 JP: 200 DEATH SENTENCE --------------- Word skill foretells the enemy's death. * Adds the Death Sentence status effect. * Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: 1 JP: 500 NEGOTIATE ---------- Word skill used to negotiate with enemy and receive gil. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: 1 JP: 100 INSULT ------- Word skill used to upset enemy with curses and abuse. * Adds the Berserk status effect. * Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: 1 JP: 300 MIMIC DARAVON -------------- Word skill used to put enemy to sleep with boring stories. * Adds the Sleep status effect. * Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: 2 JP: 300 --------- Reaction --------- FINGER GUARD ------------- Evade word attacks. * Triggered by Word Skills. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 300 -------- Support -------- EQUIP GUN ---------- Equip gun regardless of job. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 750 TRAIN ------ When enemy becomes terminal, force them into becoming allies. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 450 MONSTER TALK ------------- Speak with monsters and use 'Word Skill' even if not a Mediator. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 100 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Summoner ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Time Mage (level 2) Summoners aren't a bad job class, although they aren't nearly as good as the Wizard. The thing is, they have a speed handicap (original 5 in compared to the Wizard's original 6), but even worse, their MA is not as good as that of a Wizard, so the best setup is to learn the Summoner's best abilities, such as Shiva, Titan, Golem, Lich, and Fairy, and then to give the summon ability to a Wizard. But with the magic class, stats don't tend to be so important, so don't let this turn you away. The abilities of a Summoner form one of the most versatile sets in the entire game, only surpassed by the Monk and the Samurai. You have two healing spells, Moogle and Fairy. You have the elemental powers of Shiva, Ifrit, and Ramuh, as well as the latter Leviathan and Salamander. And there is, of course, Lich, which will do ENORMOUS damage to Zodiac beasts, its only fault being that it has a chance of missing. And you have the ultimate defensive spell, that being Golem, which should not be passed up. And also, if you have Half of MP, you're an ultimate mage, trust me. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ------------- Summon Magic ------------- MOOGLE ------- Summon monster cures target's wounds with pure wind and restores HP. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 2 - allies JP: 110 SHIVA ------ Summon monster breathes on the enemy with extremely cold breath. * Has the element of Ice. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 2 JP: 200 RAMUH ------ Summon monster mercilessly pours lightning shower on enemy. * Has the element of Lightning. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 2 JP: 200 IFRIT ------ Summon monster rains a blazing inferno down upon the enemy. * Has the element of Fire. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 2 JP: 200 TITAN ------ Summon monster overturns the earth by striking it with a powerful blow. * Has the element of Earth. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 2 JP: 220 GOLEM ------ Summon monster shares part of ally's damage. Evades physical weapon damage. Range: Auto Effect: All Allies JP: 500 CARBUNCLE ---------- Summon monster protects allies by reflecting magic attacks with ruby light. * Adds the Reflect status effect. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 2 - allies JP: 350 BAHAMUT -------- Summon monster unleashes a devastating breath attack. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 4, Vertical 3 JP: 1,200 ODIN ----- Summon monster charges through enemies on the back of a dragon-horse. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 4, Vertical 3 JP: 900 LEVIATHAN ---------- Summon monster engulfs the battlefield with a huge water swell. * Has the element of Water. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 4, Vertical 3 JP: 850 SALAMANDER ----------- Summon monster burns battlefield with scorching red flame. * Has the element of Fire. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 2 JP: 820 SYLPH ------- Summon monster mutes enemy with the spirit of leaves in the wind. * Adds the Silence status effect. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 2 JP: 400 FAIRY ------ Summon monster restores ally's HP. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 2 - ally JP: 460 LICH -------- Summon monster born from darkness, dwells in the bowels of hell. * Has the element of Darkness. * Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 2 JP: 600 CYCLOPS -------- Summon monster sunders the battlefield in the wake of its catastrophic onslaught. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 2 JP: 1,000 ZODIAC ------- Summon monster focuses star light energy, and unleashes it in a blazing form of destruction. Range: 4 Effect: Horizontal 4, Vertical 3 JP: N/A --------- Reaction --------- MP RESTORE ------------ Restore MP when terminal. * Triggered by being low on HP. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 -------- Support -------- HALF OF MP ----------- MP used when casting magic is cut in half. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 900 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Samurai ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Knight (level 3), Monk (level 4), Lancer (level 2) Samurais are, without a doubt, one of the best classes in the whole game. Perhaps their single flaw is that they have lower HP than the average physical powerhouse; it may also be worth noting that they can't equip shields. But putting that aside, Samurais have unusually good MA. Their PA is excellent, and the speed isn't bad either. Plus, Meatbone Slash and Blade Grasp are only outmatched by Hamedo for best reaction ability; the former doing your max HP worth of damage when critical, and the latter making you almost impossible to hit. The set of abilities doesn't disappoint either. Samurais are sort of like Chemists; to use their abilities, you must have the respective katana. And every now and then, once you use it, it may get "blown away", but this is a rare occasion, unlike the 100% chance with a Chemist. They have a very well rounded set of sword skills; several doing damage around you, one hitting in a line, one healing, one casting Protect and Shell on you, one casting Haste and Regen on you... and I believe I've mentioned their reaction abilities already. Give some of these abilities to a character, and you won't regret it. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- --------- Draw Out --------- ASURA KNIFE ------------ Releases spirit of the katana. An invisible blade slashes the enemy. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 JP: 100 KOUTETSU --------- Releases spirit of the katana. The cry of the Banshee, released in a brutal wave. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 JP: 180 BIZEN BOAT ----------- Releases spirit of the katana. Ghost's whisper causes MP damage. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 JP: 260 MURASAME --------- Releases spirit of the katana. Released spirit's tears restore HP. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 - ally JP: 340 HEAVEN'S CLOUD --------------- Releases spirit of the katana. Ethereal spirit flows out and attacks. * Adds the Slow status effect. * Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 JP: 420 KIYOMORI --------- Releases spirit of the katana. Spiritual essence engulfs allies in a protective veil. * Adds the Protect and Shell status effects. * Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 - ally JP: 500 MURASAMA --------- Releases spirit of the katana. Vengeful wraiths gradually remove the soul of the enemy. * Adds the Confusion and Death Sentence status effects. * Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 JP: 580 KIKUICHIMOJI ------------- Releases spirit of the katana. Vengeful spirit charges the enemy in rage. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 JP: 660 MASAMUNE ---------- Releases spirit of the katana. Benevolent spirits enhance the strength and agility of allies. * Adds the Regen and Haste status effects. * Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 - allies JP: 740 CHIRIJIRADEN ------------- Releases spirit of the katana. Spirits become blue flame and attack living things. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 JP: 820 --------- Reaction --------- MEATBONE SLASH --------------- When terminal, give damage in the amount of your max HP. * Triggered by being low on HP. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 BLADE GRASP ------------ Evade physical attack. Works well against long distance, too! Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 700 -------- Support -------- EQUIP KNIFE ------------ Equip Katana regardless of job. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 TWO HANDS ---------- Hold weapon in both hands, raising destructive power. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 900 ----- Move ----- WALK ON WATER -------------- Move or stop over the surface of the water. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 600 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Ninja ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Archer (level 3), Thief (level 4), Geomancer (level 2) The Ninja... it's a mix of almost everything good from a class. It's one of the fast job classes; coming across seeming better than the Thief in this area. It has perhaps the best PA of any class in the whole game, but you can expect that because it attacks twice instead of once. =) To add to this, they have superb Move and Jump capabilities, and with their Throw ability, they can put any Archer out of business. They have a couple flaws however, those being that they have quite low HP (about as much as a Thief) and low defense. Oh well, they've got great class evasion, so with Sunken State/Abandon, a Mantle, and weapons with moderate evasion, they become impossible to hit from the front. However, the Ninja's abilities obviously aren't too great; learning these adds to the weapons that a Ninja can throw. Most of them other than Shurikens, Balls (for versatility), Swords, Knives, Spears, Hammers, and Axes aren't really worth learning and should be spent on Sunken State or Two Swords, however. The thing about Hammers and Axes is that they do remarkable damage when thrown (throwing is based on speed; you can kill almost anything if you throw a Morning Star with an 12-13 speed Ninja), because of their raw power. Using Two Swords together with a physical powerhouse or special character will make you almost a mechanism. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ------ Throw ------ SHURIKEN --------- Allows you to throw the listed item. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 12, Vertical 12 JP: 50 BALL ----- Allows you to throw the listed item. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 12, Vertical 12 JP: 70 KNIFE ------- Allows you to throw the listed item. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 12, Vertical 12 JP: 100 SWORD ------ Allows you to throw the listed item. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 12, Vertical 12 JP: 100 HAMMER ------- Allows you to throw the listed item. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 12, Vertical 12 JP: 100 KATANA ------- Allows you to throw the listed item. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 12, Vertical 12 JP: 100 NINJA SWORD ------------ Allows you to throw the listed item. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 12, Vertical 12 JP: 100 AXE --- Allows you to throw the listed item. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 12, Vertical 12 JP: 100 SPEAR ------ Allows you to throw the listed item. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 12, Vertical 12 JP: 100 STICK ------ Allows you to throw the listed item. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 12, Vertical 12 JP: 100 KNIGHT SWORD ------------- Allows you to throw the listed item. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 12, Vertical 12 JP: 100 DICTIONARY ----------- Allows you to throw the listed item. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 12, Vertical 12 JP: 100 --------- Reaction --------- SUNKEN STATE ------------- Hide by becoming invisible. * Triggered by HP Damage. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 900 ABANDON -------- Evade percentage rises and it becomes easier to dodge attacks. * Triggered by physical attack damage. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 -------- Support -------- TWO SWORDS ----------- Use two weapons regardless of job. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 900 ----- Move ----- MOVE IN WATER -------------- Move or stop on water. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 420 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Calculator ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Priest (level 4), Oracle (level 3), Wizard (level 4), Time Mage (level 3) What exactly IS the Calculator? This is what: it's by far the worst class in the entire game, but it has by far the best ability set in the whole game. How can this be? Well, let me say one thing at first: you should NEVER bring a Calculator into battle. They have absolutely HORRIBLE speed, innate of about 3. They also have almost non-existant power, and terrible MA. Simply put, there are no good points to a Calculator as a class, and infinite bad points. However the abilities are something different... Let me just explain exactly WHAT Math Skill is. There are four "basis" skills, those being Height, EXP, Level, and CT. And there are four "parameter" skills, those being Prime Number, 5, 4, and 3. Math Skill is, believe it or not, capable of using the spells of a Priest, Wizard, Time Mage, and Oracle, no charge time, no MP needed, find a basis such as how high up the enemy is or its EXP, and cast ANY SPELL THAT YOU KNOW. No lies. So Math Skill is the ultimate ability, and perfect secondary for a character. Just use bar propositions to build a Calculator up, and you're on your road to a perfect mage. Also, Damage Split is a simply excellent reaction ability. Trust me. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ----------- Math Skill ----------- CT --- Math Skill used to calculate CT. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 250 LEVEL ------ Math Skill used to calculate level. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 350 EXP ---- Math Skill used to calculate experience. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 HEIGHT ------- Math Skill used to calculate height. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 250 PRIME NUMBER ------------- Math Skill that guides selected item in prime number. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 300 5 -- Math Skill that guides items in multiples of 5. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 4 -- Math Skill that guides items in multiples of 4. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 3 --- Math Skill that guides items in multiples of 3. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 600 --------- Reaction --------- DISTRIBUTE ----------- When HP is maxed, excess HP is shared with party. * Triggered by Recovery. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 200 DAMAGE SPLIT ------------- Shift damage received from yourself to your enemy. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 300 -------- Support -------- GAINED EXP UP -------------- Spirit is heightened. Gain more experience from the same experiences. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 350 ----- Move ----- MOVE-GET EXP ------------- Gain experience as you move. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 400 MOVE-GET JP ------------ Gain JP as you move. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 360 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Bard ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Male; Mediator (level 4), Summoner (level 4) Bards are usually heralded as the worst character. While they are indeed, very bad characters, they're much better than Calculators. Their speed is weak, I'll say that much, and their MA is quite disappointing. Still, the advantage is a certain weapon in which only Bards can equip, called Bloody Strings. Unlike a Blood Sword, you can buy it. While Harps are very bad weapons because they can ONLY hit from three panels anyway, Bloody Strings drains HP. Hahaha. It's got a decent power on it, but once you gain the appopriate abilities, I wouldn't hang around as a Bard. Sing is an only decent ability. You've got abilities which can recover HP/MP, raise speed, raise PA/MA, cause random positive status effects, and even one which can boost everyone's CT to 100, but come on... they're very inaccurate, and as such, most of them won't get much use. Especially Last Song, which is VERY slow and VERY unreliable. However, MA Save is perfect on Samurais, and for developing mages, Face Up is pretty nice. Also, if you're willing to delve into Bards a bit, you should definitely pick up Move+3 or Fly; both are perfect movement abilities. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ----- Sing ----- ANGEL SONG ----------- Song for divine protection of an angel. Restores MP. Range: Auto Effect: All allies JP: 100 LIFE SONG ---------- Song about the greatness of life. Restore HP. Range: Auto Effect: All allies JP: 100 CHEER SONG ----------- Song about encouraging and cheering up enemies. Raises Speed level. Range: Auto Effect: All allies JP: 100 BATTLE SONG ------------ Song about battle. Raises physical attack power. Range: Auto Effect: All allies JP: 100 MAGIC SONG ----------- Song about laws of sorcery and origins of magic. Raises magic attack power. Range: Auto Effect: All allies JP: 100 NAMELESS SONG -------------- Unknown song which has been handed down for generations. Various divine protection. * Adds the Reraise, Regen, Protect, Shell, and Haste status effects. * Range: Auto Effect: All allies JP: 100 LAST SONG ---------- Ultimate song. Raises ally's CT count to 100/ Range: Auto Effect: All allies JP: 100 --------- Reaction --------- MA SAVE --------- Raises magic attack power. * Triggered by HP Damage. * Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 450 FACE UP -------- Raises Faith. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 500 ----- Move ----- MOVE +3 -------- Increases movement range by 3. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 1,000 FLY ---- Leap over enemies and obstacles. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 1,200 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Dancer ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Female; Geomancer (level 4), Lancer (level 4) Dancers are flawed classes, much like Bards, but they're still better than Bards, and except for the fact that Jump+3 pales in comparison to Move+3. They are females, and can thus make use of ribbons and perfumes. Plus, all of their cloth weapons have a 50% evasion rate if you throw Weapon Guard on, making them extremely hard to hit. Something I have to pick on is that it's a bit bad that only males get Bard (a magical class while females are better magic users), and only females get Dancer (a physical class while males are better attackers). Oh well, females can still be utilized for speed, so it's not a total loss. Apart from the class itself, Dance is much better than Sing, in my opinion. Of course, Last Dance is just as terrible as Last Song, but other than that, you have some fairly useful abilities. Witch Hunt and Wiznaibus are some very good things to use; and Slow Dance and Polka Polka are great for turning strong opponents into pansies. While I would have loved A Save and Brave Up on a male character, they're still great abilities for classes like Ninjas. Jump doesn't even become a factor if you have Ignore Height, though, so pass up Jump+3 and learn Fly instead. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- ------ Dance ------ WITCH HUNT ----------- Dance causes MP damage with a mysterious costume. Range: Auto Effect: All enemies JP: 100 WIZNAIBUS ---------- Dance causes HP damage with powerful dance steps. Range: Auto Effect: All enemies JP: 100 SLOW DANCE ----------- Dance lowers enemies' Speed level by confusing them with slow dance movements. Range: Auto Effect: All enemies JP: 100 POLKA POLKA ------------ Dance with vivacious moves. Lowers physical attack power. Range: Auto Effect: All enemies JP: 100 DISILLUSION ------------ Dance lowers enemy's magic attack power by distracting them with a mysterious costume. Range: Auto Effect: All enemies JP: 100 NAMELESS DANCE --------------- Dance with unexplainable moves. Causes various abnormal statuses. * Causes all negative status effects. * Range: Auto Effect: All enemies JP: 100 LAST DANCE ----------- Ultimate dance. Turns enemies' CT count to 0. Range: Auto Effect: All enemies JP: 100 --------- Reaction --------- A SAVE ------- Raise physical attack power. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 550 BRAVE UP --------- Raise Brave. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 500 ----- Move ----- JUMP +3 -------- Increases jump elevation by 3. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 1,000 FLY ---- Leap over enemies and obstacles. Range: N/A Effect: N/A JP: 1,200 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Mime ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Prerequisite: Squire (level 8), Chemist (level 8), Mediator (level 4), Summoner (level 4), Geomancer (level 4), Lancer (level 4) Mimes are completely different from any other character. First of all, they can't equip a single thing, but they don't even need to because they have such high HP and HP gains anyway, that you don't even need equipment! Their PA is pretty decent, but what they excel best with is a support character that stays in the back while you use Math Skill to destroy half of the enemy army. Then they'll do exactly the same thing. :) Very useful job classes, but they don't get any abilities, and you can't mimic other Mimes. =-=-=-==-=-=- | ABILITIES | =-=-=-==-=-=- The mime cannot learn new abilities. He simply mimics other characters' actions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \\ \\ \\ +-+-+ Monsters +-+-+ // // // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Chocobos ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| The chocobo is probably the most annoying possible enemy to battle against in a random encounter, because they're fast, they're powerful, they can freaking HEAL themselves (as well as enemies), and they can fly away from you, and can take a while to go down. They're not really extremely good at anything, but they have some power in almost anything they do. But anyway, in battle, each kind of chocobo is good for its own purpose. The yellow Chocobo can heal you, the black Chocobo is slow but can heal status effects and is strong, and the red chocobo is fast and has VERY powerful attacks from a distance. Plus, with Monster Skill, they can use Choco Cure. ;) Chocobos are great assistance because you can ride them and move around much more. Excellent allies all in all. Chocobo =-=-=-=- Poach: Phoenix Down (Common); Hi-Potion (Rare) CHOCO ATTACK ------------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: 1 CHOCO CURE ----------- Heals some HP. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 2 CHOCO ESUNA (Monster Skill) ------------ Restores status effects. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 2 Black Chocobo =-=-=-=-=-=-=- Poach: Eye Drop (Common); X-Potion (Rare) CHOCO ATTACK ------------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: 1 CHOCO BALL ----------- Strong projectile attack. Range: 4 Effect: 1 CHOCO ESUNA ------------ Restores status effects. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 2 CHOCO METEOR (Monster Skill) ------------- Powerful projectile attack. Range: 5 Effect: 1 Red Chocobo =-=-=-=-=-=- Poach: Remedy (Common); Barette (Rare) CHOCO ATTACK ------------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: 1 CHOCO BALL ----------- Strong projectile attack. Range: 4 Effect: 1 CHOCO METEOR ------------- Powerful projectile attack. Range: 5 Effect: 1 CHOCO CURE (Monster Skill) ----------- Heals some HP. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 2 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Goblins ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| I don't really like Goblins as characters at all. Sure, they're not bad as short ranged physical fighters, but they don't have any long ranged attacks, and out of all the monsters in the entire game, they're probably the easiest to kill. They never really have very substantial HP, but they have a huge weakness to ice. The Gobbledeguck, however, can be great if you rely on luck. Just get hit until you're at critical HP, then use Mutilate. Have fun. Or if that doesn't work, try Goblin Punch. Other than that, they're quite weak. Goblin =-=-=-= TACKLE ------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: 1 EYE GOUGE ---------- Causes Darkness on an enemy. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: 1 GOBLIN PUNCH (Monster Skill) ------------- Damages equal to Goblin's wounds. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: 1 Black Goblin =-=-=-=-=-=-= TACKLE ------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: 1 TURN PUNCH ----------- Attacks with spinning fists. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 JP: 150 GOBLIN PUNCH (Monster Skill) ------------- Damages equal to Goblin's wounds. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: 1 Gobbledeguck =-=-=-=-=-=-= TACKLE ------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: 1 EYE GOUGE ---------- Causes Darkness on an enemy. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: 1 GOBLIN PUNCH ------------- Damages equal to Goblin's wounds. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: 1 MUTILATE (Monster Skill) --------- Absorbs 3/4 of the enemy's HP. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: 1 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Bombs ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| The Bomb is a great ally if you don't like to keep monsters in your party and just want to have a bit of fun. Bombs absorb fire, and even get to half ice, which is very nice. What's more, earth won't affect them as they float above the ground, and their own weakness, Water, is very rarely utilized by enemies (other than Summoners with Leviathan, grrr!). But however, once you reduce them to critical and/or surround them, they can Self Destruct, which will kill them, but deal massive damage to any characters around it. Very, very useful. Plus, the Explosive gets the simply awesome Spark ability. Bomb =-=- Poach: Fire Ball (Common); Flame Rod (Rare) BITE ----- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 SELF DESTRUCT ------------- Uses all HP up to damage opposition. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 SMALL BOMB (Monster Skill) ----------- Stronger physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Grenade =-=-=-= Poach: Hi-Potion (Common); Water Ball (Rare) BITE ----- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 SMALL BOMB ---------- Decent physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 SELF DESTRUCT -------------- Uses up all HP to damage opposition. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 SMALL BOMB (Monster Skill) ----------- Causes Shell. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 Explosive =-=-=-=-= Poach: Lightning Ball (Common); Fire Shield (Rare) BITE ----- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 SELF DESTRUCT -------------- Uses up all HP to damage opposition. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 SPARK ------ Fire elemental attack. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 1 SMALL BOMB (Monster Skill) ----------- Strong physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Panthers ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Panthers... well, they're not really that great, but they're not really too bad either. They have a decent speed, they're fairly powerful, and you may have some trouble hitting them. Plus, their countering ability can be quite devastating, because of their good power. However, their abilities aren't exactly awesome. Poison Nail rarely works, and Cat Kick is fairly unreliable. Same goes with Blood Suck, which doesn't work often enough for me. Their best ability, I think, is Blaster, which is part of the reason why Vampires are a huge pain in the arse to fight. Just don't bring a panther against a Summoner with Titan. :) Red Panther =-=-=-=-=-= Poach: Antidote (Common); Battle Boots (Rare) SCRATCH ------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 POISON NAIL ----------- Causes the Poison status effect. Range: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 3 CAT KICK --------- Physical attack that causes random damage. Range: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Cuar =-=- Poach: Soft (Common); Germinas Boots (Rare) SCRATCH ------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 CAT KICK --------- Physical attack that causes random damage. Range: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 POISON NAIL ----------- Causes the Poison status effect. Range: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 3 BLASTER (Monster Skill) -------- Causes Petrify or Stop. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Vampire =-=-=-= Poach: Holy Water (Common); C Bag (Rare) SCRATCH ------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 CAT KICK --------- Physical attack that causes random damage. Range: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 BLASTER (Monster Skill) -------- Causes Petrify or Stop. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 BLOOD SUCK (Monster Skill) ----------- Gives HP taken away from the enemy to the character. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Squids ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Squids... okay, they're one of the most annoying enemies you could possibly fight against. For example, Mind Blast. Put that on yourself, and you might just go insane. While squids may be good for causing abnormal status effects, they're just really not my cup of tea when it comes to battling. Their attacks are very weak, and Black Ink isn't entirely reliable. Plus, put a Bolt2 or Ramuh on them and they're just dead meat; there just aren't enough water users in FFTactics to make good use of this. Pisco Demon =-=-=-=-=-= Poach: Echo Grass (Common); Potion (Rare) TENTACLE -------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 BLACK INK (Monster Skill) --------- Causes Darkness. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Squidlarkin =-=-=-=-=-= Poach: Small Mantle (Common); Sleep Sword (Rare) TENTACLE -------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 BLACK INK --------- Causes Darkness. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 ODD SOUNDWAVE ------------- Purges positive status effects. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 1 MIND BLAST (Monster Skill) ---------- Causes Confusion or Berserk. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 Mindflare =-=-=-=-= Poach: Hi-Ether (Common); Dracula Mantle (Rare) TENTACLE -------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 BLACK INK --------- Causes Darkness. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 MIND BLAST ---------- Causes Confusion or Berserk. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 1 LEVEL BLAST (Monster Skill) ----------- Reduces the target's level by 1. Range: Horizontal 4, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Hawks ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Hawks are actually much better allies than you might expect at first glance. They're good at evading attacks, have surprisingly decent HP, they can fly and are thus fairly mobile, and of course, you've got the Cocatoris, which is not only powerful, but has the awesome Beak skill, which can Petrify an enemy. How cool is that? Feather Bomb is also a very good long ranged attack, plus you can't forget Beaking, which can be very useful. However, they have no good poaches, so if that's what you're looking for, you're outta luck here. ^_^ Juravis =-=-=-= Poach: Potion (Common); Rubber Shoes (Rare) SCRATCH UP ---------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 FEATHER BOMB (Monster Skill) ------------ Projectile attack. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Steel Hawk =-=-=-=-=- Poach: Phoenix Down (Common); Hunting Bow (Rare) SCRATCH UP ---------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 SHINE LOVER ----------- Steal Gil from enemy. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 BEAK (Monster Skill) ---- Causes Petrify. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Cockatoris =-=-=-=-=- Poach: Soft (Common); Phoenix Mantle (Rare) SCRATCH UP ---------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 BEAK ---- Causes Petrify. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 FEATHER BOMB ------------ Projectile attack. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 BEAKING (Monster Skill) ------- Lowers the target's PA. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Ahrimans ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Ahrimans aren't very strong, but they can be very annoying to fight against, because of Look of Devil and Look of Fright. Put those on an enemy, and you'll have a much easier battle. Ahrimans can fly, although they're weak against ice magic and don't have that much HP. Still, Ahrimans are great against mages for Circle alone, and you'll probably want to poach a Plague eventually, to get a Zorlin Shape, which is one hell of a good weapon for a Thief. Oh, and you can't forget Death Sentence, which is very useful. Flotiball =-=-=-=-= Poach: Shuriken (Common); Platinum Dagger (Rare) WING ATTACK ----------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 1 LOOK OF FRIGHT (Monster Skill) -------------- Lowers the target's Brave by 10. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Ahriman =-=-=-= Poach: Magic Shuriken (Common); Air Knife (Rare) WING ATTACK ----------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 1 LOOK OF DEVIL ------------- Causes abnormal status effects. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 LOOK OF FRIGHT -------------- Lowers the target's Brave by 10. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 DEATH SENTENCE (Monster Skill) -------------- Causes Death Sentence. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Plague =-=-=- Poach: Yagyu Darkness (Common); Zorlin Shape (Rare) WING ATTACK ----------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 1 LOOK OF FRIGHT -------------- Lowers the target's Brave by 10. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 DEATH SENTENCE -------------- Causes Death Sentence. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 CIRCLE (Monster Skill) ------ Lowers the target's MA. Range: Horizontal 4, Vertical 4 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Skeletons ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Skeletons are useful allies for fighting most monsters, as they have access to lots of elements... lightning, water, ice, and wind. Still, skeletons are very tough to keep up as allies, because they're undead and thus, cannot be healed, unless you drain it's HP, and who wants to do that? :) They're very easy to fight against during battle if you have a healer, or someone who can use Fire or Holy. And sometimes they'll rise instead of turning into crystal, but all the same, I think ghosts make better allies than skeletons. Skeleton =-=-=-=- Poach: Holy Water (Common); Ether (Rare) KNIFE HAND ---------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 THUNDER SOUL ------------ Lightning elemental attack. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 AQUA SOUL --------- Water elemental attack. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Bone Snatch =-=-=-=-=-= Poach: Hi-Potion (Common); Partisan (Rare) KNIFE HAND ---------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 AQUA SOUL --------- Water elemental attack. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 ICE SOUL (Monster Skill) -------- Ice elemental attack. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Living Bone =-=-=-=-=-= Poach: Wizard Mantle (Common); Elf Mantle (Rare) KNIFE HAND ---------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 ICE SOUL -------- Ice elemental attack. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 WIND SOUL (Monster Skill) --------- Wind elemental attack. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Ghosts ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Ghosts, in my honest opinion, are better than skeletons in battle. They've got the range of a skeleton, but rely more on status effects than damage. What's more, Ghosts are MUCH harder to take down than Skeletons, because they have an innate Teleport ability, so as long as you aren't too greedy, you can Teleport around while a slow enemy like a Knight tries to attack you and fails, while you use Throw Spirit. Hehehe... other than that, you get Sleep Touch and Drain Touch, both of which are awesome, as well as Zombie Touch and Grease Touch, which can make enemies very weak. Ghoul =-=-= Poach: Ether (Common); Ninja Knife (Rare) THROW SPIRIT ------------ Projectile attack. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 SLEEP TOUCH ------------ Causes Sleep. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 GREASE TOUCH (Monster Skill) ------------ Causes Oil. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Gust =-=- Poach: Water Ball (Common); Main Gauche (Rare) THROW SPIRIT ------------ Projectile attack. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 GREASE TOUCH ------------ Causes Oil. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 DRAIN TOUCH (Monster Skill) ------------ Absorbs 1/3 of target's hit points. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Revnant =-=-=-= Poach: Hi-Ether (Common); Mythril Gun (Rare) THROW SPIRIT ------------ Projectile attack. Range: Horizontal 3, Vertical 3 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 DRAIN TOUCH ------------ Absorbs 1/3 of target's hit points. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 ZOMBIE TOUCH (Monster Skill) ------------ Causes Undead. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 2 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Boars ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Boars are what you might call a hidden joke from the creators of Final Fantasy Tactics. They are very weak, and you would never really want to bring one of them into battle if not for the hilarious abilities; example: Pooh, Please Eat, and Nose Bracelet. LOL. So they're no good in battle, BUT they're excellent for poaching, and you can get some of the best stuff in the game from poaching the advanced Boars. They're not easy to encounter, but apart from that you'll want to have a few in your party just for the fun alone. Just never bring them into battle unless you want to poach them. Uribo =-=-= Poach: Maiden Kiss (Common); Caschua (Rare) STRAIGHT DASH ------------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 OINK (Monster Skill) ---- Revive a downed unit. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Porky =-=-= Poach: Chantage (Common); Nagnarok (Rare) STRAIGHT DASH ------------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 POOH ---- Causes Confusion or Sleep. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 NOSE BRACELET (Monster Skill) ------------- Charms enemies. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Wild Boar =-=-=-=-= Poach: Ribbon (Common); FS Bag (Rare) STRAIGHT DASH ------------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 NOSE BRACELET ------------- Charms enemies. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 PLEASE EAT (Monster Skill) ---------- Wild Boar becomes a level up roast. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Trees ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Trees, yep. It's such a pity, but the tree is probably the worst monster in the entire game. At least Boars get good speed. But anyway, the Tree is extremely slow, can be pounded into pieces in almost no time, and has terrible abilities that can be used much better by a Priest. However, a Taiju is worth poaching to get a rare Defender, which is an excellent sword. But hey, Boars are better all around poaching (and in everything else), so I recommend completely forgetting these horrible monsters. Woodman =-=-=-=- Poach: Eye Drop (Common); Healing Staff (Rare) LEAF DANCE ----------- Weak physical attack. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 PROTECT SPIRIT (Monster Skill) --------------- Causes Protect. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 Trent =-=-=- Poach: Gold Staff (Common); Fairy Harp (Rare) LEAF DANCE ----------- Weak physical attack. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 SPIRIT OF LIFE --------------- Heals some HP. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 CLAM SPIRIT (Monster Skill) ------------ Causes Shell. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 Taiju =-=-=- Poach: Defense Ring (Common); Defender (Rare) LEAF DANCE ----------- Weak physical attack. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 PROTECT SPIRIT --------------- Causes Protect. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 CLAM SPIRIT ------------ Causes Shell. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 MAGIC SPIRIT (Monster Skill) ------------- Heals some MP. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 2, Vertical 0 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Malboros ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| Malboros are pretty mediocre allies in battle, who really don't rely on dealing damage to their enemies, but rather, causing a whole bunch of status effects. I will be the first to say that Malboros have some good abilities; Goo and Bad Bracelet are both great, and Moldball Virus can be great in some circumstances, but Malboros lose out in almost everything else. They're very slow, not very powerful, are very weak against ice so you can reduce their decent HP to almost nothing in no time. All the same, they're really not that good and don't have very good poaches either, since I never use dictionaries as weapons. Morbol =-=-=- Poach: Platinum Dagger (Common); Ice Shield (Rare) TENTACLE --------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 LICK ----- Causes Reflect. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 BAD BRACELET (Monster Skill) ------------ Causes a random abnormal status. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 0 Ochu =-=- Poach: N-Kai Armlet (Common); Chameleon Robe (Rare) TENTACLE --------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 GOO --- Causes Don't Move. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 LICK (Monster Skill) ----- Causes Reflect. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Great Morbol =-=-=-=-=-=- Poach: Elixir (Common); Madelgelm (Rare) TENTACLE --------- Weak physical attack. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 1 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 BAD BRACELET ------------ Causes a random abnormal status. Range: Auto Effect: Horizontal 3, Vertical 0 MOLBALL VIRUS (Monster Skill) ------------- Turns target into a Morbol. Range: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 Effect: Horizontal 1, Vertical 0 |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| \\ ++ Minotaurs ++ // |~+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+-=~-=+~| The Minotaur is probably the strongest monster in the entire game. I can't say "the best", as I think Hydras or Behemoths are better than Minotaurs, but a Sacred can simply annihilate almost all opposition that doesn't have really good long ranged attacks. Especially if you start from a distance, so that you can use