Revier's Chronicles of Ivalice - Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 4

 

The lads set off for Dorter. Along the way, they end up meeting a huge gaggle of monsters in its surrounding forest. These provided the most challenging battle so far, largely because they could and did often counter attacks with their own. Human units do not counter melee attacks by default, rather they have to learn it as a counter "ability". It's certainly an interesting interpretation and expansion of the counter mechanic in Tactics Ogre, which merely did the standard "counter every melee attack with a counter attack" system. The only problem is that I didn't have any counter abilities yet!

Dorter added a bit of intrigue by introducing the idea that there were schisms in the brigand group, and that their leader clearly didn't approve of the kidnapping. It was also the site of the fiercest battle yet, with the enemy having significantly advantageous positions and powerful wizards on its side. The battle was won mainly on the strength of the protagonist and his fellow knight having enough health to outlast the onslaught and enough damage to kill the enemy forces before they could inflict any lasting damage on his team.

It is here that I began to notice something about these battles - they were all about wiping out the enemy forces, instead of assassinating their leaders. Thus, the focus was clearly much more on effectively spreading damage, rather than effectively focusing it on one pivotal point. Secondly, bodies staying on the ground for prolonged periods actually impacted positioning subtly but visibly , as the number of valid tiles for positioning reduced dramatically as a fight dragged on and more units lay dead, denying the tiles they occupied to any current units. It was certainly a very interesting and unexpected wrinkle, and I wondered how often I'd get to exploit it in future battles.

Anyhow, Algus ended up extracting the location of the splinter group by applying excessive violence towards one of the surviving brigands. The game weaved in more signs of classism here, with the brigand vehemently denying Algus' smearing of his group and instead accusing the nobility itself of mistreating and neglecting the people under them. And...that's it, really.

Their final destination, the desert of Zeklaus, split the group up into two. I found this hilarious, considering how limited my party size had already been. That aside, I quickly regrouped them, as there was little tactical benefit to having them split up. The game assumed that I would lead a two pronged assault, but I simply boarded up their front door and ended up using their walls against them, as the door ended up being an incredibly lethal chokepoint. You can kind of see what I meant with the corpses blocking effective positioning in the screenshot above, heh.

I was, however, starting to get annoyed with my archer's crossbow. It was annoyingly limited in its targeting, and compared very unfavorably to the bows the enemy was using, which were straight up capable of arcing fully and so were far more flexible and impactful as ranged weapons. I never liked the crossbows in Tactics Ogre, and they didn't do much to impress me here, either. Give me a real bow, for crying out loud!

The leader of the brigands was here, and he himself dispatched the leader of the splinter group, then graciously offered up the abducted marquis to the lads. The marquis was unhurt, though of poor health, and the team heaved a big sigh of relief.

And with that, this plot arc was complete. But of course, the game wasn't, and in the process of all that battling, I had unlocked two new classes - the thief and the monk. The thief clearly seemed like an agility focused fighter, while the monk relied on their mental focus and spiritual prowess, shunning physical equipment for their own strength of both body and mind. Both classes seem intriguing, but I have no clue who should take them up, and the knights are already quite solid in their own right. I kind of like the idea of Ramza becoming a thief, and the archer has been a little weak, so perhaps he could take up the role of a knight in Ramza's place.

And that closes out this session! But before I leave, I must present an example of a rather seemingly outrageous counter move:

If I had space for a black mage in my current lineup (I sadly don't), I'd have strived hard for this. Wizards do certainly seem quite powerful in this, going by all available information.

Alright, now I'm ending this session for real. See you next time!