I'm curious... what are considered to be 'good' and 'bad' playing habits in FFT. I've spent the most time in Vanilla (so far) so I've parobably picked up most (all?) of common ones.
Depends on how it carries over into a mod, any habit can be bad depending how a mod is setup.
That said, we don't really deal in 'good'/'bad' habits here. This is a modding site, not GameFAQs. Play the way that is most fun to you, that's all that matters.
We don't like discouraging any sort of play style. There is no "real gamer" way to play video games.
But if you cheat and then complain that some content is broken (when it was supposed to be inaccessible) or if you skip through the storyline events/cutscenes people put a lot of time and effort to make, we'll introduce you to Mr. Guillotine. :)
Worst is when people try to edit in max stats/items/whatever using a gameshark, end up making their file unplayable, and ask me to clean up after their mess. If you cheat by editing things you don't fully understand, you are 100% responsible for whatever you did to that file. Which means any resulting "bugs" aren't really bugs that i can fix; if you didn't back up your stuff beforehand, too bad, etc.
Now, if you want to try a mod considered "hard" by most such as Monster Tactics (which is the only significantly harder mod that I'd recommend), the main vanilla habits that need to be broken are approaching the game too much as if it's vanilla instead of as its own game. I've added several types of mechanics that didn't exist in vanilla, such as damage reduction, m-ev on monsters, r/s/m that don't suck, rebalanced formulas, etc; and make use of several underutilized mechanics like reflect and status effects in general. Note that this isn't to discourage playstyles, but to force the player to pay attention to the game's mechanics so that they can properly come up with a strategy for any given battle. Outside of that, go nuts! :)
Leaving Help messages on lol. I still refuse to turn them off even after all these years. It's just a part of the game to me at this point.
I can't leave them on; that or displayed Exp/JP. Drives me nuts! Too many extra button presses and too much time wasted.
Yes, help is the worst.... why is it even a thing beyond the first 2 fights in the game. Not one person ever actually reads things like movement messages or effect messages after the first use.
Doggedly sticking to broken strategies then thinking things are too easy. That's the only "bad" gameplay habit I can see concerning FFT. Of course people can play how they like and whatnot, but I feel a large part of FFT's appeal is variety in viable options and customization; if that's not appealing to someone, and they want high challenge without any self imposed restrictions, perhaps other games would suit their taste more.
Quote from: Emmy on February 07, 2017, 10:52:35 am
the main vanilla habits that need to be broken are approaching the game too much as if it's vanilla instead of as its own game.
That's probably the best advice there is, for any mod really. Might as well develop some new bad habits ;)
One thing I always appreciate with mods, the devs are fans who spent a lot of time playing the vanilla game and are usually able to come up with much more balanced mechanics.
I'd say the one bad habit I can think of is trying to pre-determine the roles of your characters. For example, my Ramza is going to be a samurai with MA-UP, Agrias will be a Holy Knight with White Magic, Male generic ninja with punch arts and hamedo, etc and thinking that leaving them in strictly those roles will work for every battle like it would in Vanilla. Most mods require you to do quite a bit of strategy changing between fights. Zerging in and going all out offensive doesn't always work like it did before. Most mods require a little bit more strategy and planning to win the later battles.
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Was never even aware you could turn that off :shock:
Oh also I always try to get the more obscure jobs in the first chapter, leading to the enemies being a bit hard to handle come chapter 2
I use Gained JP Up FAR too much... sure it's good(in vanilla at least) but... you really don't -need- every ability ASAP >.>;
Quote from: Azure Lune on February 18, 2017, 02:19:01 am
I use Gained JP Up FAR too much... sure it's good(in vanilla at least) but... you really don't -need- every ability ASAP >.>;
That's not really a bad habit. Getting abilities fast, however it's allowed, is standard across all mods.
Yeah, using that ability isn't bad; it's the fact that the game just gives it to you right from the start. It's so blatantly powerful, compared to any other support option, that it'd just be stupid to use anything else.
You'll be keeping that one all the way 'til the likes of Dual Wield.
I think the issue with Gained JP up is the presence/need for the ability. Abilities should be ones that make the ai more interesting and fulfill roles in executing strategies. In other words, something that helps the player or the ai win battles. Now, why would an ability like that need to exist in the first place? It is no use to the AI, and only serves to reduce the grind in a game where the grind is too much. JP costs should be lower across the board so that players learn things at a reasonable pace, and abilities like that should be removed in favor of anything else. Few people actually enjoy hitting themselves over the head with throw stone for 4+ hours straight...
Quote from: Mudvayne on February 09, 2017, 12:25:51 pm
I'd say the one bad habit I can think of is trying to pre-determine the roles of your characters. For example, my Ramza is going to be a samurai with MA-UP, Agrias will be a Holy Knight with White Magic, Male generic ninja with punch arts and hamedo, etc and thinking that leaving them in strictly those roles will work for every battle like it would in Vanilla. Most mods require you to do quite a bit of strategy changing between fights. Zerging in and going all out offensive doesn't always work like it did before. Most mods require a little bit more strategy and planning to win the later battles.
Yes, this, to an extent. Most first time players don't get the versatility they need on their characters because they're frequently stuck in the "punch art ninja worked in vanilla and was great" mentality, though it doesn't take too long to get a few extra abilities because I lowered JP costs. Generally, most reasonable setups will work for most battles, though sometimes a player may need to change from say, yin yang to time magic when the status weaknesses of the formation have changed. Offensive strategies can work - the player just needs to be considerately more mindful of how the ai works in the game; neglected mechanics like ct, reflect, and status effects in general; and new mechanics I had added to it.
I guess one of my bad habbits is exploiting the Level down and Up Trick in chapter 1 to power up my party members then doing the same thing with my other characters...
least this way EVERYONE can be as broken as Orlandu.