It’s a debate that my friends and I have more frequently than we probably should: what is the perfect team for Final Fantasy Tactics?Final Fantasy Tactics, no matter what you may think, is the greatest RPG of all time. Hands down. There is no other.
Keep in mind that I am only referring to the Final Fantasy Tactics on the original Playstation (or PSN download). I’m sure the PSP version is great because it’s a direct port, but the FFT Advance games on the Gameboy Advance and the DS are stupid. Yes, they have more character classes, but skills are acquired through using weapons which is dumb because I can’t cheat and get the best skills early in the game through my own hard work and training. It’s almost as if FFTA was designed to ensure everyone THOUGHT they had freedom when they really didn’t.
So . . . many . . . possibilities.
The original Final Fantasy Tactics, however, is perfect because it is completely open as to how you want to make your team. It’s been said (mostly just by me) that each person’s FFT game is like a snowflake in that no two FFT experiences are exactly the same. Still, there must be a perfect team that is unstoppable, and I present to you, my dear readers, the absolute perfect team. If you wish you dispute me, please feel free to do so in the comments section, but be warned that you are wrong.
Also, you could ride chocobos.
One thing to keep in mind is that special characters such as Agrias, Mustadio and the ridiculously overpowered Orlandu are off limits because it isn’t fair.
I can't smell nothin'!
Leader – Your main character should be a knight with a two sword ability from the ninja class. Subclasses don’t really matter when you are a knight with a two-sword ability because you are that much of a tank, but if you really HAVE to, then it would be a good idea to have the archer’s charge skill.
Beware of Monk Aladdin!
Monk – This class can be overpowered at times and that’s why they are essential for your party. Monks have range, they self heal, they can bring back the dead, and they can rob lots of HP too. The only downside to a Monk is that they have low HP, so equip armor should be used to balance this out if that’s a concern of yours. For a subclass, lancers jump ability is useful here as well. Honestly, you could probably debate most of the classes on my list, but this is one that you can’t. The monk is perfect.
Wizard – With a summoner subclass, a Wizard is completely overpowered and can do massive damage to a large area of enemies. Ramping him up with boost magic things just makes it even more unfair.
Priest – With holy magic on their side, a priest is the standard healer for the group, but with a secondary class of time mage alongside the white magic powers, the character becomes vital in the early stages of a fight as well. Priests are useless in combat except for the Holy spell which is like an atom bomb.
Bard – That’s right. I said it. BARD. I know it takes quite a bit of effort to get a bard, but they are perfect because they can ramp up the speed of every one of your party members regardless of where they are in relation to the character. The Bard is perfect and needs no other subclass, but if you have to pick one, then pick a chemist just in case.
And now, two classes you should never, ever use:
Just doin' some sums so I can kill.
Calculator – Using complex calculations and magics that he has acquired throughout the game, the Calculator’s attack is so effective that it hurts people on your own team. That’s right. You can randomly hurt your own team because of math. Everything about this character is dumb.
Bonjour!
Mime – This is the most infuriating character class in the entire game because if you know nothing about him, you think he’ll be great. I remember the one and only time I decided to make a Mime. I thought, “Oh, it takes SO MUCH EFFORT to make a Mime, so they must be perfect.” WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
A mime can’t do anything on his own. He can only mimic the actions of people on his team. So, if my leader strikes the person in front of him, then the mime strikes in front of him. If the person in front of the mime happens to be on my team, too bad. What is more infuriating is that the mime randomly will decide to mimic others. So, I might position him in front of an enemy and then strike with another character, but he won’t attack as well. Then, when I heal someone nearby, he will heal the enemy.
WORST.
CHARACTER.
EVER.
Why did you have to remind me of the existence of this game? I want it so very badly so I can get nothing else accomplished for the rest of the year.
Dude, the calculator is the perfect class. They cast magic without taking MP.
You just have to take levels in Priest so that you learn Holy. Then you do a little exploit to duplicate Excalibur (which causes Holy to heal intead of harm). Then every fight just becomes spamming the ever-loving fuck out of Holy.
Admittedly, Knight with Two Swords is pretty boss as well, but what’s better is Knight with Gun Proficiency (maybe this is Chemist with Knight abilities, I’m kind of hazy on that right now). Normal Knights can break someone’s sword by getting up in their grill. Gun Knights can break someone’s sword FROM ACROSS THE MAP.
As for Monks, Monks are the shit. ‘Nuff said.
I’m just not a fan of the calculator casting on his own party and it takes waaaaay too much work to make them useful.
I never thought of a gun knight, but that sounds amazing! Great point!
I love having the bard. First thing I do is I grind until I get a bard. And by then I should be well on my way to getting a monk. A monk with the ninja ability to hit with both hands. He’s pretty B.A. that way. I haven’t played in almost ages so I can’t remember exactly what I make my team, but those two are musts for me. I also like to keep someone with th chemist subclass. So I don’t have to worry about wasting mp on the undead if I don’t need to. I just launch phoenix downs at them.
I pretty much just lancered the hell out of everything, combined with some wizard booms. I don’t even think I bothered to bring any sort of healing to the map; nothing ever lasted long enough to matter. In fact, I’m pretty sure any sort of scripted fight lasted all of never because I was so over leveled. I think if I ever play it again I’m just going to fight with Chocobos.
I knew it was a stupid idea to talk about Final Fantasy Tactics because I REALLY want to play it again. I’ve played the damn game 100 times now and it’s a different experience every single time. Grrr . . .
This is one I really recommend the PSP remake for. It’s more or less a direct port but they’ve added some new (very minor) additions like a new unlockable Final Fantasy character and one or two new gimic classes. The story is the same but the writing was adjusted, it feels more period now and makes more sense to me (word choices I guess). One big down side is that loading for spells and powers is irrationally slow and jerky.
Anyway, your party is nearly the same as mine expect I (I being the main character who I always self name “Tadanori Oyama”) self identitfy as a mage, so he is the Black Mage / Summonor and I keep around a Knight who has been trained as a Ninja.
I’ve never played, and i probably never will, it just never seemed that appealing to me.
I find it funny how in this apparently the mime is the worst type character to have, yet in 6 Gogo was the best character to have.
You are right. The game is the best. AND you are right the mime and the calculater suck. I finished the game once on my PSP but now i am replaying it. Im on the part were you give the Gem to that guy to free mustadio. And guess what? All my level 12/13 people died so i was stuck with level 1’s.
First this game is the scond best fanalfantasy of mine.FF6 is habds down the best one,the story made sine,it was fun to play,plus you could play two player during a battle.Now you want to know what the ultimate class is? Ramza as a Priest with two swords,(his faith goes up the fastest is this class)Beowoulf,Agrias as a geomancer with holy sword,Cid,Worker8,and Cloud,his speed is unmatched,and he can dish out a heal of a beating if you make him a ninja.
first off… for a single player game this is the best multiplayer of all time. grab a few friends and each person plays as thier own character… just grab a beer and pass the controller around… now as for the team Ramza as a lancer with the counter(monk), 2hands(samurai), and Ramza’s squire abilities for accumulate to boost attack. just keep smashing from 2 spaces away and 2hands will double your damage. keep a time mage nearby so assist you with jump+20. last off mimes… great support character. everything that has been writen is from people trying to use the mime as a offencive unit… sit them in the back… alone… with a dancer or bard. i once went in with 2 dancers and 2 mimes and ramza as a B.A. and never lost. dancers are fast and attack quick. the one dance the damages enemies will hit 6 times per turn that way. you will drain the enemies before they get close enough to need your main character… and for a twist make the dancers eithe ninja’s or black mages… its not about what you use in this game its how you use it…
1) Ramza as a knight, Squire class, two swords, blade grasp, teleport
2) ninja, thief class, equip armor, blade grasp, teleport
3) lancer, archer class, concentrate, blade grasp, teleport
4) monk, chemist class, equip armor, blade grasp teleport
5) mine.
All that equals BEAST!!
ARE YOU TROLLING WITH THIS POST?? HAHAHHAA… calculators are bad?? A knight with charge?? A priest? A BARD?? I lol’ed most at Charge as secondary ability! My God your team will get ripped apart by even the most noob players.
Squire with Draw Out & Two Swords
Wizard with Calc & MagicAtkUp * MPSwitch/Move-MP-Up
Wizard with Draw Out MagicAtkUp & MPSwitch/Teleport
Ninja with Battle Skill & Equip Sword * Blade Grasp/Move+3
Monk with Steal (vs humans) or Basic Skill (accumulate) & MPSwitch/Move-MP-UP
Basically every physical attacker should have Two Swords or be a Ninja and anyone you plan on using magic with should be in the Wizard class and use secondary for their actual attack. Calc/DrawOut are the best secondaries for magic users for variety.
Math Skill is the most overpowered ability in the game (even more than Orlandu’s Holy Swordskill). You can kill the entire battlefield in one turn. If you’re smart you know how to protect your own guys by equipping items that will absorb Holy OR by placing them on tiles on the map which won’t have them targetted by Hieght * 3/4/5/Prime
Actually the easiest run through of FFT was with a full team of calculators. Just equip them all with rubber boots and cast “Bolt 4” on everything over and over again and just keep running away from the bad people.
I’ve never used a calculator but I’ll give them a try.
1.Ramza/squire(natrual class HP bonus 100 Plus he can wear armor unlike others)/ side munk skills , hamedo, two swords, move HP Up 2. Lancer/ Monk, Blade grasp, Attack Up, Ignore Height 3. Monk/ Elemental, Hamendo, Attack Up, Move HP up 4. Bard/ Chemist, Dragon spirit, Throw item, Fly 5. Mime ( with the bard he’ll resing a song and depending on hes level better pluse he punches better than the Monk!)
Early in the game I like the Monk/Squire combo and take a defensive approach in battle. I like the Monk’s minimal gear setup and the Squire’s Focus ability(I believe it’s called Accumulate in the original PS version). Later in game I prefer more of a blitzkrieg battle plan for which the Ninja/Monk are a very fast and powerful combo. Strength, speed, and battlefield mobility are essential to this method. The big drawback is the relatively low HP and defensive stats but sacrifices must be made somewhere and that’s how I gamble. That said, I believe Ramza’s Squire class with Monk abilities and dual wielding is the best way to go. I’ve never found the Knights or Wizards to be very useful as they’re simply too sluggish in battle though the Dragoon(Lancer for PS) is one of my favorites(especially mounted on a chocobo).
I loved all the transration errors in the original version. Lots of bad Engrish. Still one of my favorite games ever along with FF8 and FF9.