Part 9: Good Company

Update 9: Good Company

In This Update:
- Meet our new recruits!
- They should've sent a poet.
- The return of the tutorial beast!

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Welcome back! Last time, we explored the wonderful world of auction houses. We are richer for the experience, at least in the material sense.

The next story mission is annoying. Dull. Aggravating. So, we're avoiding it. Today's update is all side quests.

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But before we get into the side quests, let's talk about recruitment!

The thread voted to recruit a bangaa Bishop and a seeq. I've never used the former, and the latter is both fun and very useful. Good choices, thread.

There are two ways to recruit a new unit.


The first way is the "Clan Mates" quest.


In this quest, you meet a very polite nu mou who wants to help you find a new clan member.


The available race is based on the current month. The current month is Greenfire, so we can recruit bangaa.
If we came here during Emberleaf or Plumfrost, we would see seeqs instead.
Each race has two months associated with it, though gria and seeq share theirs with each other.


You then answer a short, four-question quiz.










Your answers determine the job of the unit.


Let's look at our new recruit! They always come equip with the lowest-tier weapon and armor usable by their job. Their level is based on the average level of the clan.

The most important part of recruiting a new unit is choosing their starting class. You want the best growths for the character, which really means maximizing Speed without sacrificing too much W.ATK/M.POW. It's a lot easier to use equipment to raise attacking stats than speed!

This Bishop is actually a little terrible. First of all, the job itself has only 39% Speed growth -- the second lowest in the game. He's slower than Samuel. Second, his Magick should be a bit higher.


Forget it, we aren't hiring him.


If we reject a candidate, we get two more tries at the quiz. This lets us choose a different job, if we want. If we reject all 3 candidates, the quest ends. It won't be available for three months after completing it, so try not to waste too much time.

Most advanced jobs are unavailable right now -- I'm actually surprised it let us recruit a Bishop at all. The available jobs are gated by how many story quests you've completed, though no one actually knows the exact connection.


Choosing the first answer for every question gets us a White Monk candidate.


68 Speed is faster than half the clan right now. His magick is only 10 points lower than the Bishop's was, which is basically 1 - 2 levels lower. White Monks need 2 A-Abilities to unlock Bishop, which will take no time at all.


Welcome Lian to Clan Sawyer!


The second way to recruit new members is by finding them on the map.
During each race's month -- i.e. Emberleaf and Plumfrost for seeqs -- characters of that race can be found in particular locations. In the Aldanna Range, we can find Berserker and Ranger seeqs.

Each race has two to three potential locations, with different jobs available at those locations. Generally, one is for starter jobs and the others host advanced jobs.


We got lucky and found a Ranger. Make sure to save before the map event appears, so that you can reset if you don't like the unit.


Rangers are the fastest seeq job and have good enough attack growths that you'll always recruit them.


Welcome Tsing to Clan Sawyer!

A lot of people voted for a seeq Ranger because of a particular ability they have. Unfortunately, we don't have the weapon that unlocks it yet. We'll see it soon enough, I promise!

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Now, on to the update proper.


Doing more story quests unlocked more Clan Trials. These trials raise and lower two stats at a time. The only real reason to do them is the fun clan privileges they unlock.


We're doing this one.


Same as before, a Judge appears to offer us different titles.


Lectors gives a small bonus to prices, but more importantly it unlocks Bonus AP 2!


Pretty harsh restrictions: we're timed and we can't use magick.


Oh also the enemies are Tonberries.

Tonberries are classic Final Fantasy monsters, appearing in every game since their debut in FFV. They're vicious, vindictive avatars of vengeance.


Besides some extremely powerful attacks, they resist all elemental damage. They aren't the toughest enemy -- with only 3 of them, we can take them down pretty quickly -- but this can be a challenge.


I switch the clan over to strong physical classes. Samuel's a Soldier.
Yes, a Green Mage with a two-handed hammer is actually stronger than a Fencer right now. (We don't have the best rapiers yet.)


A full-out physical offense is our only option.


Increasing speed buys us a little more time between rounds.


You can imagine how this battle goes: We all walk forward and have a big old brawl in the middle of the battlefield.


Twist #1: Tonberries "stalk" targets. They'll focus on that one target, trying to get close enough to attack.
Two of them stalk Henri, while the third targets Adelle.



Twist #2: They have Critical: Quicken and enough defense to have it trigger reliably. This gives them a free turn.


Twist #3: Tonberry's signature ability is "Karma," which inflicts damage equal to 10 times the number of units you've KO'd.




Tonberries are pretty scary.




But it's not long before we finish the battle.



Bonus AP 2 gives +40 AP if we uphold the law.

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Clan Sawyer fulfilled their true destiny as tradesmen by doing a whole bunch of non-combat quests.


This is another "Lezaford dumps exposition" quest.


Grimoires are books of magick, ranging from books used by young mages to ancient, powerful tomes. Lezaford also mentions there is one truly powerful grimoire out there. Hint: this game is subtitled "Grimoire of the Rift."



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Forests of Loar is the first in a series of travelogue quests. Visit a bunch of areas in a short time and collect an item that can be traded in later.


The locations for this one are Targ Woods, Bisga Greenlands and Zedlei Forest.


It's impossible to fail this one, unless you run afoul of the 6-day time limit. But you might as well just dispatch it.


That's the first Wayfarer's Log obtained.

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The next one is a special kind of dispatch quest.



You see, instead of dispatching someone when we get the quest, we instead choose a unit at the quest location itself.


I guess this lets them put a little more exposition into the quests. They never really do anything interesting with this.


Anyway, the key to this is to send a unit with a job that uses maces. Talf as a Sage would have worked too.


After two weeks (or actually 200 days because I did this while grinding auctions) the unit returns.

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So many quests are named "Wanted: X" in this game. Some of them are like wanted posters or bounties, others are actually looking for something in particular.


In this case, some nerd wants to adventure across the country, finding interesting people who might become important historical figures.


Like Wanted: Shiny Maces, only one particular job can succeed here. In this case, it's the Ranger.
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if a bangaa Defender could do it too, but I've only ever tried with Rangers.


For quests like these, sending the right job guarantees success.

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Marnot, the Pride of Fluorgis, needs us to go on a date for him.


This can only go beautifully.




The music switches to the dangerous battle track.




The second two options will resolve the quest successfully, but you don't get to hear Samuel recite a love poem.

: Right, um...

You... you are the sun.
And I... I am... the moon!
And since I am the moon,
I cannot shine without you... the sun!


It worked!

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Another notice unlocks a small quest chain:



The first quest in the chain is just a simple delivery.


What are those seeq doing?


Meet Madreth, leader of the Nu Mou Nobles. He's an arcanist, one of the new nu mou jobs and strong contender for worst job in the game.


He also warns us away from the Bangaa Brotherhood, the jocks who keep giving these nerds swirlies, or something.


He also unlocks the Arcanist job for us. I'll save the rant about that job for another post.

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This quest is unlocked by reading the "Carm Mercantile: Who We Are" notice in the pub. Carm Mercantile is a young, up-and-coming merchant house that focuses on ship building and freight shipping. They've recently branched out into philanthropy with an initiative to preserve endangered monsters.

In this particular quest, they're asking for donations towards their preservation efforts.


Why not? We can afford it.


You'll be unsurprised to find out this is just the introductory quest to a somewhat fun chain.

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You'll remember Clan Bowen as the group that we helped Veis the Assassin join. We also saw a notice in the pub about them, which expounded on their skill, expertise and experience as adventurers.


Turns out the dangerous quarry is Klesta!


Usually it's just fine to save a quest for later. But then there's this law. Fortunately, Klesta is 4 levels above us.


Klesta is still plenty scary and also impervious to all conditions.



: Oh, you were sly, how you evaded me... but no longer!

: Klesta... So that's the creature House Bowen is after.

: This is our quarry - we'll take the front lines. Clan Sawyer, you support us from the rear!

: Fine. But if things aren't going well, we're coming up there to support you!

: Many thanks. Now, to battle!

: ... Are... you all right, Bowen?

: What is it, Tweigel? I see no cause for you to be concerned. I... I am in control here.


This is basically the same as the other time we fought Klesta. The giant bird does a lot of damage, but all we need to do is focus it down.


Absorb Damage is such an annoying ability.


I brought Samuel, Adelle and Lenolia on this mission. Lenolia's job is to heal Tweigel, Bowen's Illusionist, so he can keep dropping Blood Price'd illusions. The other two will be attacking Klesta directly.


This is an extremely vertical map, so being able to fly is really helpful. Your other option is to equip boots that boost your Jump stat.


Overpower avoids R-Abilities. It's pretty useful in a lot of situations.


Klesta has a few new tricks. Devour does damage to every unit in the 3-tile wide strip in front of it.


Sorry, Veis.


Anyway, we just keep beating Klesta up until eventually we get the KO.


And of course Klesta just flies away again!

: Hey, it's running! Quick!

: No, do not give chase. It is best to let that bird fly for now.

: But why? We were so close!

: There is nothing in this world more perilous than a wounded beast. That, and...

: No... It is nothing. I am weary from the day. I take my leave now. Thank you, Clan Sawyer.

Bowen teleports away, but Tweigel stays behind to explain. Clan Bowen has fought Klesta many times before, and every time it fled before they could kill it. Once, they thought they had gravely wounded it. Bowen sent Swordmaiden Friese to track the beast and slay it, but was instead slain herself.


Every since, Bowen has been cautious, never risking anyone's life like that again. He stopped us from pursuing Klesta to save us from Friese's fate.




What's this? The red "!" means a special event is available.


Klesta's back already!


A nice, easy law this time. We can get Opportunity Commands, we're just not allowed to actually use them.


Lian joins us this time.


Klesta is apparently fully healed after our fight, despite the severe beating we gave it.


Clan Bowen runs it at the last second. Time for a rematch!
It's exactly the same as the battle we just did.


Dammit Tweigel! Remember, he has Blood Price. He's sacrificing HP in order to do nothing.


I made Samuel grab his White Mage abilities so he could heal Tweigel, but after that shameful display, I'm not going to bother.


Tweigel has some impressive plot armor. Because he has a speaking part, he's not allowed to die in this mission. The FFTA2 AI prioritizes weakened targets, so he's drawing all the aggro.


Immortality seems pretty painful.


I quite like Lian so far. He's doing some great damage, and is almost ready to become a Bishop.

: What!? It ran away again!

: Aye, but with grave injuries, I'd wager. We won't be seeing that one again for some time. Feh...

: Thank you, Bowen.

: Ah... Ah ha. No need to thank me. I am only glad we all made it though in one piece.



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Before closing this update, let's take a quick look at the clan.

Samuel and Adelle are still Thieves, and they're well on their way to learning their 4th A-Ability.

Talf is still a Dragoon, though he's almost ready to move on. Same with Lian, who needs one more ability before becoming a Bishop.

Church would be a lot more interesting if priests had to master roundhouse kicks and exorcising the undead in order to be ordained.


Talf is an Illusionist, because that unlocks a job I rather like. Illusionist's only advantage is being able to hit every enemy on the map. Their skills cost a lot of MP and they have the lowest speed growth in the game at 34%. He won't be one for too long.


Lenolia is learning Doublecast. It's a 990 AP ability that lets Red Mages cast two spells in one turn. She also mastered two Elementalist abilities, which unlocks Summoner, my favorite viera job.


Imino mastered a second Thief skill and is now a Tinker. This job is another contender for worst in the game, though I have a soft spot for it.


Tsing is learning Awareness. Rangers are focused around placing traps, and Awareness lets them see all traps that have been placed. This is essential for a lot of battles! It's one of the two reasons to use a Ranger.

And we get all these nice things from the shop:







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Thanks for reading! Our new clan members are shaping up nicely, we've got a good number of side quests under our belt, and new plot threads are developing.

The next update may-or-may-not be story heavy. Haven't decided yet. The next story quest really is a pain.

October 25, 2017 was the 10th anniversary of FFTA2's release in Japan. It's a shame there hasn't been a new Final Fantasy Tactics game in that time, but I hope they revive the series eventually. Maybe some indie developers will create homages to the series!