Part 34: Job Talk 8 - Lady Luck, Trainer

Job Talk 8

Lady Luck

HP 12^th MP 4^th STR 8^th MAG 6^th DEF 10^th MDEF 8^th AGI 6-7^th ACC 3^rd EVA 7^th LUCK 1^st

Lady Luck is weird. Dominating only in the Luck stat, this job doesn't stand out in any particular field. The Reels attacks are straight out of Wakka's Overdrive and lump a selection of abilities from other jobs together semi-randomly. On the other side of the coin, Lady Luck is a good job to have around for money, items and EXP, which are notoriously in short supply your first time through the game.



spend money to eliminate one enemy and earn an item

Since you don't need reagents for customization, this isn't as useful as it once was, and money can often be tight. However, there's some good equipment you can earn this way, a surprising number of bosses aren't immune, and Lady Luck herself can counteract the cost of Bribe pretty quickly.

2D6 hits of special damage to one target
4D6 hits of special damage to party

I like the Dice attacks, and not just because I have fond memories of the Fixed Dice / Offering combo in FFVI. These are cheap, unblockable, fixed damage attacks similar to Trigger Happy. It's hard to say which is better; Two Dice has twice the base damage and is more likely to get bonus damage from a matching pair, but Four Dice has a much higher Chain. I prefer Four Dice for its synergy potential and stunlocking, but your mileage may vary.

randomly use certain Warrior, Berserker, Samurai, and/or Trainer abilities
randomly use certain White, Black, Arcane, and/or Blue Magic abilities
randomly use certain Mix and/or Item abilities
randomly use all sorts of crap

I don't like the Reels attacks, and not just because the input lag on my recording setup screws with my timing. The abilities available through Reels are taken from some flawed skillsets, and there's a fair amount of worthless crap you can end up with. They also make it difficult to conceive of Lady Luck as a Job in its own right, rather than a Mime with more cleavage than usual. Plus, the strength of those abilities is determined by the Lady Luck's lackluster stats. You might manage to get a really powerful ability, one that's normally difficult to use or you haven't learned yet, an instant-win, or even up to three attacks at once, but you also might just shoot your entire party in the face. For myself, I value wall time over game time, and I'd rather finish the battle with a more consistent attack than pause-scum for a perfect reel.

increases user's Luck by ten levels
increases party's Luck by three levels

A pretty good buff. In the prequel, Luck determined not just the rate of critical hits but also influenced evasion and accuracy, although exactly how isn't exactly clear; I'm assuming the same remains true for X-2.

confuse all enemies

A confuse spell in skimpy clothing, this suffers from the same caveats as any status attack does.

all physical attacks deal critical damage

A powerful passive ability if you're using Attack Reels; it's a shame it can't be easily transferred to another job.

zero MP cost while at critical health

This would be a pretty dangerous ability to exploit. Kind of a gamble, or something.



double rewards from battle

You can get buff pretty quick with these abilities, particularly the gil and items abilities, which stack to an 8x multiplier if all three of your party have it.


Trainer

HP 4^th MP 8^th STR 5^th MAG 10^th DEF 4^th MDEF 10^th AGI 9^th ACC 7^th EVA 5^th LUCK 13^th
HP 4^th MP 8^th STR 7^th MAG 9^th DEF 6^th MDEF 10^th AGI 3^rd ACC 6^th EVA 5^th LUCK 13^th
HP 4^th MP 8^th STR 5^th MAG 9^th DEF 4^th MDEF 10^th AGI 4^th ACC 6^th EVA 5^th LUCK 4^th

The Trainer is unique among non-superjobs in that each character gets different stats and abilities when in this job. Yuna gets a little dog, Rikku gets a monkey, Paine gets a falcon, and they all got taught different tricks. Most of those tricks are things they seem to have picked up from the Black Mage and the Berserker, but whatever, they're just animals. Unfortunately, being a very hybrid job in a game where you can change your job at will, there's not a clearly defined role for the Trainer, and they're not particularly powerful. It's an okay flexible job to be stuck in, but you're so rarely ever stuck. I like Paine's version of this job the most, though; it's cool looking, she has probably the best stats, and simultaneous healing and buffing is hard to come by.




holy-elemental physical attack
fire-elemental physical attack plus darkness status
ice and stop
lightning and berserk
water and sleep
physical attack and doom
eject attack

Yuna seems to be more of a Black Mage than anyone else, which could be a positive thing except her agility is depressed to compensate and her magic's not great to begin with.


attack and steal gil
attack and steal item
attack and darkness
attack and silence
attack and berserk
attack and interrupt charging ability
increases strength and defense of target by one level

Rikku's monkey is basically if she and Tidus had a baby, which is awkward. I think Bully actually resets enemies who are charging an attack, rather than just a delay effect, which makes it worth considering.


eject attack
attack and poison
attack and petrify
instant death attack
restores HP and applies protect to target
restores HP and applies haste to target
restores HP and applies shell to target

Why does Paine, the starting warrior, get all the heal-and-buff abilities? I've given up trying to decode the developers' fevered logic. Carrier's animation is hilarious, though.




recover HP


cure statuses


big physical damage on target

Healing, status recovery, and big damage, staples of every hybrid job the developers expected to be self-sufficient. Pretty boring.

just what it says
recover HP while walking around
recover MP while walking around

reduces pet ability charge time

Half MP Cost is fine when you're on this job, but honestly the Stroll abilities are better, because you can walk around as a Trainer to recover and then switch out of it to a better job in battle. There are Stroll accessories, but near the end of the game you'll be using both your accessory slots for something important.