[DS] Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift

FFTA was my shit, I played the fuck out of that game. Of course this may largely be due to the fact that I spent a lot of time on public transit at the time and needed something to pass the time during long train/bus rides, but I eventually ended up beating it 100% and doing all the bonus quests and shit. A million hours of game play.

NYR has my cart of it now, so no save bonus for me ;_;. Definitely tempted to run out and buy FFTA2 today, even though I'm still working on my backlog of other stuff.

Does Paladin + Double Sword still = lololol or did they fix that this time around.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Excellent. Sad to hear Concentrate getting the nerf stick though. I rather liked that one too.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Tritoch

I'm still really enjoying the game despite all the negatives. Luso isn't a wuss like Marche, and that's enough to satisfy me.

Since when was Marche a wuss? Marche was a dick, trying to take away the cripple's fantasy land where he could walk. Back into your wheelchair, bitch.

That said, I'm about 18 hours into MARCHE YOU DICK 2 and I love it. 0 complaints. The "No X Race Action" Law is a new one but that's easily avoided by having a little you know, variety in your damn party.

Adelle ain't even half bad either. The real stars of the game are Viera though. Not even gonna lie.

Bangaa come in close for the Dragoon/Gladiator/Defender classes.

SUPER EDIT: I hope that at some point down the road I don't kick my own ass for not doing Veteran during General Training I. I went for Professional and actually ended up clearing it in under the 3 round requirement for Veteran but couldn't be assed to go back and redo it.

How ya doing, buddy?

That's what you get for not playing the first one AND not reading the manual. What the fuck, who does that.

"Man I have no idea what this game is about OH WHAT THIS IS CRAP WHY ISN'T EVERYTHING EXPLAINED TO ME"
"Because they already did that in the first game."
"0/10!"

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Dunno about a guide, but I do know that the Clan Bowen quests are officially the most lulziest/epic thing ever.

Minor Klesta related stuff.:

I love how it goes from Bowen chasing after huge bird Kletsa from the intro mission to "I HAVE TO GET REVENGE FOR MY WIFE THIS MONSTER KILLED" and finally "SAVE OUR LEADER HE'S LOST OUR MIND." So cliche, but so funny at the same time. In your face, you fucking giant chicken.

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Third time is the charm.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Lukage

Its one thing to miss some story background for not playing a previous game. Its another to assume that someone has played it and has obtained information from it that's necessary in this one. However, I've never played through a game that has required me to read the manual first. *shrug*

Your point is so invalid it hurts. The entire point of a sequel is to be a continuation of the first; therefore you're going to have elements in it from the game before it that don't require explaining. That's like picking up Metroid Prime 3 without playing any other Metroid game and then complaining about why the game didn't tell you you have to scan everything and who is this Ridley guy and how do I kill it, what the fuck is a Metroid, etc..

It's much akin to how all the stateside Fire Emblems after 7 start off with the assumption that the player has a basic knowledge of the series itself. Sure there are optional tutorials for those who happen to be new, but this kind of thing is standard fare for SRPGs.

That being said, again; why are you playing the sequel without having played the first. Also, it never hurts to RTFM. That's why that acronym exists. The fucking manual, read it.

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Where are these Seeq niggers at. I'm at around 30 hours 60+ quests and haven't seen one yet.

Lollin at the Clan Trails though. I forgot all about them while I was around questing, having done 3 near the beginning, and now that I had a few moments I just went back and did around 5 or so, including two of the combination ones.

"Kill two monsters in two rounds."
"Aight."
:: one hit kill::
:: one hit kill::
"Done."

So overpowered it hurts. It's unfair to be able to wait so long to do these.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

You beat the Blue King at 34? Man I need to stop wussing out then. My main 6 are all around 40 now, but I saw he was a level 55 and decided to wait a little bit. ;_;

55 hours and 141 missions in here, and I just got a Seeq. I've two Gria's for a bit, which I'm thankful for since they can travel so much further than everyone else and tear shit up. Good for the mountain range missions.

Noticing that Bangaa have been beefed up this time around too. Well, not so much beefed up but they got some really good additional classes since they were already good bruisers before. Master Monk is pretty awesome, and Cannoneer comes with Ether Shell, which is invaluable if you have Illusionists/Summoners/Turbo MP people on your team.

Final note: LOOOOOOL @ the cat eared hood Seers wear, and I got the Ragetsu-denbu (Dual Wield ability ninja sword) for being Area Champ over in the Goug area. I had all four areas won, not sure if that's a requirement.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Generic Badass

Yeah, he's no big trouble. What I'm struggling with is the Moorabella Tourney Cup quest. The Nu Mou Nobles' Illusionist charges MP absurdly fast.

Can you use Rend MP or some other MP draining ability (Aero, etc.) against them or is there a law against that in that tourney?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Holy FUCK everyone needs a Master Monk with Cross-counter, stat. It's pretty much the best thing ever since everyone and their mother has Counter midway through the game and it allows you to rape them with no remorse. It looks like it does double damage+ and negates the enemy Counter. So sweet.

Just got a little further in the story (too many side quests ._.) and finally got that lil' Moogle named Hurdy. Best name ever. He's so cute too, can I take him home.

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Originally Posted by Kairyu

lawl, tell me about it. The master monk in my clan has a evasion rate of 29% plus blink counter. Which is pretty damn awesome *tosses him into a pit of Malboros to see him dodge everything*
My question now is what armor or weapon teaches my monk Cross-counter?

You're probably a bit farther than me by now. I just met Hurdy but then I decided to go side questing again. NOW I'm stuck in this battle tower-like place fighting all sorts of monsters. This is what I get for reading all those notices D:

You learn Cross-Counter through the weapon "Fanatic". Forgot which category in the Bazaar gets you it but it looks like a red/yellow pair of nunchucks.

Also, If you're talking about the tower in Grazston, I wouldn't do it. The monsters at the top are all level 90 or so. How far are you anyways? I'm at 70hrs/190 missions right now, up to the story mission "A Request", which is three after Hurdy's mission in the timeline.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Oh yeah, that's where I got it. Excellent work, GameBoy.

As for the Lanista, I just got a quest called Lanista's Pride, which I can confirm is the mission to get the class. Presumably because it unlocked with the rest of the quests I unlocked after doing the story mission "A Request". A Request is the first block of 5-E in the Quest Report if you need a gauge of how close or far you are.

EDIT: Same goes for the Ravager class.

EDIT2: Ahahahaha, once you teach Cid Ultima Sword the game is essentially over. Overpowered SO BAD. If you haven't been taking on Chita's missions (Chita On X speed battles) you need to. After the third one you get the Materia Blade, and holy wow is Ultima Sword amazing. Takes 32 MP to cast, but if you've got someone with Ether Shell this is no problem. Cid (or any Bangaa/Gladiator for that matter) can just walk up to people and destroy their FACES in one hit, from the front even! Jesus.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Sounds like Penelo is

Spoiler:

another Ritz, since Ritz had Viera jobs too.

Also yeah, there is more or less no heavy plot this time, but that's mainly what peoples complaint about the last one was, that the story was too serious. Can't complain there.

The side quest characters are all entertaining enough if you do them all, especially since so many of them are like mini stories of their own. From the Bonga Bugle chapters, to chasing the Prima Donna Devotees down to eventually fighting alongside PD themselves (which was cool), to stuff like the tale of Sir Luc Sardarc and his Blademaster companion Frimelda. There's really too many to name. I liked the ones where you helped the Viera that wanted to keep the Wyrm as a pet though. Lulzy.

Also, I ran into

Spoiler:

Ezel last night! The No Mu from the first game who invented the law cards. <3 He gave me a special card that'd make it so baddies couldn't toss out my judge any more. I wonder if that will come in play during the final chapters. Good to see some of the FFTA1 cast is still around.

Witch of the Fens is hot, don't deny it. Don't deny it! <3 Viera.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Ahahaha, so sorry Kai. I just have too much free time on my hands.

More awesome to be found though, as the conclusion to Blademaster Frimelda's story has you

Spoiler:

finding a way to revive her thanks to the ballin Witch of the Fens, and she even joins your clan! She's level 43, but she comes strong enough to consider making a main unit. She even comes with Dual Wield already learned. Bawwww, happy endings. ;___;

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Originally Posted by Identity Crisis

I wound up trying the clan trails after I beat all of the main quests. Unfortunately, there seems to be a check to being overpowered with General Training II and its ">20 damage forbidden" law. My Black Mage even deals 34 damage with an unequipped attack.

Yeah, yeah, late reply.

There's nothing that requires you to uphold that law in order to complete the Clan Trial though. Just beat the hell out of the monsters while doing as much damage as you like, you just won't get a bonus item at the end.

Edit: 280 Quests done! I believe there's 300 total, so now comes the part where I run around forever trying to figure out how to get the last couple of quests unlocked. Fighting the Kings at level 99 at the same time is going to be all kinds of anger inducing, I'm sure. Can't wait to take on that mission.

How ya doing, buddy?

Why would you do that. ;_; Adelle has a ton of potential.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

They are both fucking awesome in their own ways, Marche and Luso.

Reporting in that finally after 120 hours, I have completed all 300 missions! Anybody else going for the 300 club?

All I have left to do now is get the 13th and final Scion, which only shows up randomly during the "Of a Feather" monster battle in Goug, or so I'm told. That and climbing those damnable towers. Onward!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The game refuses to end. Really. I got that last scion, so I decided to do Brightmoon Tor and holy shit. It's easy enough because the first three monsters in the first couple floors of the first two towers are only level 50 or so, the top ones are 90 like I said earlier. The problem is they can cast haste/protect/shell on their entire crew and move several times before you at the start of the match.

I highly suggest bringing along a Red Mage/Summoner with Doublecast/Phoenix and an Angel Ring, equipped with Halve MP and Evade Magick. They all have long range spells you'll need dodging. Equip everyone you can with Ribbons and Orb of Minwus. Counter on everyone you're not using as a caster. Once you survive the initial onslaught it more or less becomes reviving everyone that died and taking out the haste casters, then working on the rest. The first two towers are easy enough, the third where the monsters are all level 75 is where it gets tough. The final guardian makes up for it by being a breeze if you're prepared enough.

After that there's "The Final Quest", a five round tourney against all Level 99 teams. The first is of course the Cinquleur, but since they're in close range this time you can pretty much just beat the shit out of them before they start double casting you to death. Second round is more of the same, third round is 2 Beastmasters with a Headless, a > 999HP Drake, and two Sprites. Brightmoon Tor strategy applies here, same with the fourth battle which is A Juggler, a Seer, a Ranger and TWO fucking Tonberry Kings. If you can survive losing at least four people to the 999HP Karma attack, the rest just involves revive and kill. Fifth battle is nothing of note though.

And with that, I am truly finished with FFTA2. Good luck to anyone else going for 100%, you'll need it!

My final 6 Man Team:

Spoiler:

Luso: Level 99 Ninja/Parivir: Dual Wield using Adelles Heritor Masamune and reg. Masamune.

Valentia: Level 88 Red Mage/Summoner: Last Letter/Ribbon/Angel Ring. Evade Magick/Halve MP.

Tym: Level 86 Master Monk/White Monk: Adelle's Whale Whisker / Defense Plus

Jerrog: Level 80 Hunter/White Mage: Seventh Heaven Bow / Angel Ring / Replenish MP / Attack Plus

Adelle: Level 94 Paladin/Heritor: Dual Wield with the Sequencer and The Fallen Angel / Ribbon

Donne: Level 99 Ravager/Raptor: Master Sword / Ribbon / Attack Plus (Sneak Attack + Attack Plus = at LEAST 400 damage on most enemies from behind. Use this!)

All job classes listed here were all mastered by their respective users.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.