[Old] FFT: Plus Chat/discussion topic

[Giga]

Hello! Would first like to thank you Dome for making the patch.

Is there any story battle I should be wary of and prepare for in this patch, like the 1v1 fight with noob-destroyer Wiegraf? I had to abuse Ramza's speed up in the vanilla game.

[Neophyte Ronin]

My only advice is for you to steal his weapon.  Equip Precision upon a Concentrate-Innate Thief for the best chance.  Boco is now a White Chocobo, a special Class Character (akin to the Apanda/Reaver or the Archaeodaemons) with Defense Up and all Chocobo-specific Skills.  Battle Skill has long-range debuffs.  Make sure you use them.  The only other combatant in the field (much in tone with the previous cinema) is a lone female Monk.  Keep the pressure on Wiegraf and debuff his buddies so their favorite tricks can't hurt you.  That's pretty much it.

I only asked about making a FFT-based game without grinding since there seemed to be a bias against it in the Plus version.  If you stick around too long in one spot, the redesigned monsters begin to get excruciating.  Training and mastering monsters used to be optional but unappealing when set against just advancing the tale and acquiring specialty characters, but here, it's almost a damned necessity.  The trick with creating a feature in any game is that some of them are meant to be optional; rigging them to become a requirement of survival puts an amount of pressure upon the players who prefer some other means of playing the game.  It used to be I would ignore monsters and poaching bonuses or tracking specific habitats since it wasn't necessary, not because it wasn't worth your time.  These days, I feel as though I have to.

Not that any of this has completely nullified my enjoyment of the new version.  Things tended to get much better once the Fur Shop became available.  That is because I make it a point to desecrate those damned monsters and eat their steak.  It gave me plenty of headaches when I discovered all of the old tricks suddenly didn't work.  It felt like I was getting preempted.  That blew over and I started to figure out ways to kill these new adversaries.  The game started to open up to me in a way that tickled my psyche.  So, any bitterness in seriously considering the use of Monsters is more or less a byproduct of a new mission: to horribly murder every ******* monster in the game.

I'm still writing a FAQ for this.  If you'd like anything added to it, let me know.

[Dome]

Hello! Would first like to thank you Dome for making the patch.

Thanks to you for registering an account and posting here :-) By any chance, do you want to tell us where did you heard of FFT: Plus?

Is there any story battle I should be wary of and prepare for in this patch, like the 1v1 fight with noob-destroyer Wiegraf? I had to abuse Ramza's speed up in the vanilla game.

Actually...that fight is easier in FFT: Plus, because swordskills can be evaded...and Ramza has a great tanking skill in his base job

The patch is designed for everyone to enjoy, you can adjust the level of difficulty by yourself (Just grind if you need some new ability/job unlocked...the enemies will always be at the same level of yours, but won't learn new abilities/equip better stuff) and do not be scared by Neophyte Ronin: So far, he is the only one that didn't found FFT: Plus very easy xD
Another tip: Monsters are very strong in FFT: Plus, try to not fight them without a good strategy/a good array of skills/spells (Or just recruit them <3)

P.s: General rule of thumb: If the game asks you to save, DO IT IN ANOTHER SLOT

[Giga]

I saw a topic on GameFAQs once and googled this. And I'll probably just try to recruit some monsters in that case, hehe.

[Neophyte Ronin]

Recruiting Monsters is actually profitable in Plus Edition.  I recommend the "Cuar".  To recruit means beating them to Critical Condition with a character with the Train Support Ability, found on the Archer.  Dome planned these guys to become bona fide Rangers, but people squealed.  I would have encouraged him, though the Archer is far improved anyway.  Play-Testing past Level 50 pays off.

Anyway, once you got the "Cuar", have someone with Monster Skill, either innate or as a Support Ability, stand beside the monster within a 2 Height variance.  Now that Monster has an added ability.  In the case of Panthers, you get Shadow Seal (or something) which works a lot like the Assassin Class' Shadow Stitch technique: a ranged "Stop" attack that hits more often and from greater range.  An entire legion of vulnerable creatures are suddenly at your mercy should they try to get too close.  It won't work on everything--Chocobos with their mandatory Choco Esuna are notoriously immune--so be sure you look up the online help for monsters since they've all been modified to include condition immunities.

[Magic Milk]

It's nearly impossible to play the patch without save states. It's awesome that the monsters were made stronger but I can't help but feel the human classes didn't get proportional improvement... If anything I think they were even nerfed a little too much.

[Dome]

It's nearly impossible to play the patch without save states.

You are doing it wrong

If the monsters are "Too powerful" for you, it means that you grinded a lot
But, if you grinded a lot, it means you should have unlocked a lot of classes/skills

And remember, you can recruit monsters

[Neophyte Ronin]

I remember feeling the same way.  With Goblins.  Those guys gave me headache after headache.  The feeling dispersed, and nowadays I consider Squids (Illithids) the worst of the bunch, though.  Counter Flood murders.  And the notion that human classes got shortchanged remains powerful, but not overwhelming.  Simply saying "You're Doing it Wrong" doesn't mean jack shit, but neither does failing to recruit at least one monster and applying Monster Skill.  Some of the combinations are wonderful.  This game requires you to adopt features you would otherwise pass up because it was somehow gimped, but here, it's more like Velveeta in your mouth.

I complain about online help.  Forget everything else: Tutorials need updating and online help needs a major overhaul to accommodate the changes.  If information is incomplete next to what is normally presented, that spells doom for certain encounters.  Goblin Punch for instance: a non-elemental Range 2V2 Wave Fist thing, so stated.  Here's the problem: online help lies.  The Range is 2V3, and that difference meant that even with careful positioning, I still got shafted after they nailed and slew the only healer in a once-imagined unapproachable position in a tight formation.  Lost the battle, pitched the controller.  Several thousand screwdrivers later I returned and murdered those little bastards.  Typos like those are enough to aggravate the living shit out of a player.

The real struggle for any newcomer is figuring out how things work again, because Dome has this rabid infatuation with touching practically everything and rearranging how it works.  Over 600,000 changes.  You can't help but admire his dedication.  Anyway, if you're gonna grind, invest in Train to recruit some monsters and Secret Hunt to slay foes so that A, none of their buddies get to revive them, and B, the corpses don't resurrect (in the case of undead).  The early creatures are horrible when their tricks are aimed at you.  They're still horrible when they're aimed at enemies, but at least it's not aimed at you anymore AMIRITE?

Yeah, well I drew the conclusion that fighting at Level 99 is not too bad, because Command Abilities I thought I would ditch became useful again no matter what phase you're in.  Basic Skill?  Charge?  Even Battle Skill is okay, if you don't mind blowing morale on destroying stats.  If I could figure out some way to improve those powers over time, like have Job Levels mean something and improve the Command Ability's effect, we'd be set.  Anyway, even without the option of adding Short Charge, which you can now do, Charge+20 is still fun as a finishing touch, especially against an incapacitated opponent, which was pretty much the point.  And it is a regular weapon attack, so you can poach with it.  Fun as fuck, even at Level 99.  I shouldn't say much, because it's good as it is and wouldn't want Dome messing with what was a mod well done.

[Magic Milk]

You are doing it wrong

Maybe your right.. Anyway got any advice on the final battle? the one with Bloody Angel and the demons...

@Neophyte Ronin
Your post are always so detailed, it's amazing..0_o Your FAQ most likely will be the same..^_^
If you and Dome worked together I think I'll really make the hack better.

[Dome]

You should post your set-ups/levels to receive a proper suggestion
Anyway...
The demons are vulnerable to statuses: an oracle with short charge and sleep should make quick work of them, or just bring Mustadio; he is an amazing unit when you need to disable a unit
Ribbons/Items with status protections (Or a character able to remove statuses, like a mediator/White mage) are a must in this fight

P.s: Atheisth/Worker 8.
'nuff said

[Magic Milk]

I still can't finish the Bloody Angel Fight.. Do you have a video of that fight? I'll just copy what you do there.. T_T
I feel so hopeless.. >_<

[Dome]

No recorded video of that fight atm, sadly
FFT:+ is still relatively new

[pipe]

Hi Dome, have always wanted to play FFT and just discovered (from reading wikipedia) there were superior versions available. After much reading, I am set on FFT+ because:

1) Want a game that's balanced and not too easy. These games takes a long time to balance and its been 10+ years. Yay.
2) I hate games where permanent stats can be affected the class / item equipped when leveling up because it encourages a strategy that detracts from gameplay. Also hate stats that are determined by a random number generator. Thank you for taking that out!
3) Similarly I am the type who will reload a battle if I miss a rare item drop / steal / poach. It's not fun but I do it anyway to optimize my characters. I think you addressed this too.

Can't comment on the other features because I haven't played the game.

Waiting for next patch before starting. When might that be?

Looking forward to it.

[Dome]

Welcome to FFH, and thanks for registering!

You sound a lot like me about what you want in a game ;-)
The next patch? I'll start working on it after my exams end (around the 10th of March)
It will take a week or two of work to be released

[legislat]

Thats a great mod. Nice work, Dome. The balance is nice, i like many changes. Thought oracles are too strong atm. And maybe flood should only hit 1 target (imho). I completed the most part of the main game, got almost all my party to 99 and now I'm stuck in the DD TERMINATE.

Engineer is easy, but those workers are pain. They ignore protect/shell with dispose and usually nuke down 1 target and got so massive hp, i cant keep up (They love to cancel raises and heals). My units are packed in plate, regens and reraises and nothing works.

This is first battle that gave me so much trouble. Any tips?

[Dome]

You should tell us your set-up if you want some help :-)

[legislat]

Here is my set up for my most successful try(Killing Engineer and bringing to critical one of the Steel Giants)

Ramza lv 99:

Heretic

Time Magick
Damage split
Two Swords
Move-HP Up

2x Blood Sword
Crystal Helmet
Crystal Mail
Sprint Shoes

Orlandu lv 99:

Holy Swordsman

Planar Magic
Damage Split
Defense UP
Move-MP Up

Chaos Blade
Genji Helmet
Genji Armor
Cursed Ring

Alicia lv 99:

Onion Knight

White Magic
Damage Split
Defense UP
Move-HP Up

Bloody Strings
Crystal Shield
Circlet
Crystal Mail
Chantage

Lavian lv 99:

Onion Knight

White Magic
Damage Split
Short Charge
Move-HP Up

Rune Blade
Aegis Shield
Circlet
Crystal Mail
Magic Gauntlet

Cloud lv 99:

Soldier

Perform
Damage Split
Equip Armor
Move+1

Materia Blade
Circlet
Crystal Mail
Angel Ring

[Dome]

Some random tips, "Take" what you need/like from them

- Try using carabini mails & Some other accessory (Evasion does not matter in this fight) instead of Crystal mail & Sprint shoes
- The robots can only kill one unit at time, right? No AoE attacks
- Try giving both the onion knights Mp Switch/Throw item, and turn them into sandbagging bots
- Try Rafa/Malak: they are like gatling guns: They might be able to heavily damage/kill the robots if you are lucky enough
- Robots only use PA for their attacks: You can reduce the PA value of an enemy unit, right?

[legislat]

Thanks for the tips.

1. Crystal mails save me some petrify chances from engi, thought ill try it
2. Yep
3. Should try it, thanks.
4. What? Are innocent bots affected by this? Should check.
5. Tried this before in couple less successful tries with Mustadio with precision and yochi. Thought never hurts to try again. =)

[legislat]

Okay, it ended like this:

Ramza 2xBlood swords with 99 AP,
Orlandu
Mustadio
2x Onion supporting.

3 workers with 0 PA

Ramza was the only one capable of killing them. Thank god their healing is limited to 999.