Part 5: Interlude 2 - Grindtastic!

Is it "grinding" or is it "Getting abilities and equipment to avoid horrible death"? I'll leave that to the scholars.



: The senior statesmen spoke highly of you. You are truly descended from Beoulves.
: ...Thank you.
: Aren't you happy?
: Oh, yes, I am. Thank you for your kind words. ...You might have heard about the enemy attacking Elmdor's carriage and kidnapping him. What would you have us do?
: I've already had Zalbag send out a search party. They'll probably demand ransom... if he's still alive.


You can only deploy five at a time, dummy.

: I beg you. Let me avenge my comrades murder!
: I said it's taken care of. Didn't you hear me? Gallione isn't any place for you. Let us handle it.
: B..ut!
: Thank of your rank, Algus! Have you forgotten you're just a soldier without rank of knighthood?
: Urrrgh...



: It shouldn't be difficult. "Danger" probably won't get this far.

After the conference, Ramza and friends wonder about Igros, when Algus speaks up...



: My grandfather was captured during the Fifty Year War... He sold his friends out to the enemy to save himself. But, as he left the castle, he got stabbed in the back by a cadet just like myself. One of my grandfather's friends managed to escape and spread the story around. Of course my father didn't believe it, but everyone else did, they deserted him...


Algus tosses a rock into the stream, waiting for the ripples to subside before resuming.

: Rank...Dycedarg would never meet with someone like me...



: Teta!
: Alma! Zalbag!


Well, it is them. They cross the stream before starting conversation.



: Long time no see, brother.
: I heard how you beat the thieves in Gariland. That's worthy of a Beoulve. I'm sure father would've been pleased with you.
: .....Thank you.
: Heh...haven't changed a bit. You don't like that much, eh? Delita, you look good. I heard about your role also. Just look how happy Teta is.




: Delita, I'm glad you're doing well.
: And you also. How is your schooling?
: Fine. Everyone is so nice to me...
: I'd love to talk more with you, but I must hunt down some thieves. Pardon me.
: I pray for your victory.


Isn't it wonderful when the text boxes follow normal reading order?

: ...I can't understand it. The Death Corps claim to be anarchists, but they only rob and hurt the nobility. It's hard to believe they would kidnap the Marquis just for money.
: Absurd! Why, they're nothing more than knaves, I say!
: The messenger we sent still hasn't returned. He's probably in trouble, but the nobles say there's no need to search for his whereabouts.
: Where was he when you last heard from him?
: A trade city called Dorter, east of Gallione... ...Guarding a castle is boring work, don't you think?
: Teta, I'm sorry, we must go.
: Don't worry about me, just take care of yourself.


They even have a couple of frames of Teta nodding. I love how many sprites they have everywhere for even minor things.

: Let's go, Algus.

Delita and Algus leave one way, Zalbag and Teta another. Before Ramza can go, however...



: Something wrong with Teta?
: She has been picked on at school because of her rank.
: .....
: Sorry, I shouldn't have worried you like that. Teta will be OK. I'll be there for her. Trust me.
: I'm not worried, but don't you overdo it.
: You're the one going to far to meet their expectations. Just be yourself and don't be restricted by your name.
: You sound like our mother. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Ramza leaves, while Alma stays behind.




Anyway, our next goal is Dorter, but to go there now would be suicide. It's a real step up in difficulty from the missions before and after it.


Bah! This is stupid.


Now it's not stupid, even though I have no armor for Ramza and Bulk doesn't have any JP to speak of.


Damn, this shit's expensive!


Luckily I have the clothes from a dead man to sell. I need every gil I can grab. I'm not used to replacing the male generics so I'm in a budget crisis here.


Back in Gariland, hats that I absolutely must have are on sale.


Sorry, Hi-Ether, but you're fucking useless.


It's a big boost for Norma and Eldena, even if, at level 1, the 5 MP is wasted. The basic spells cost 6 MP and they start with 18.


Speaking of spells, Norma and Eldena both get cure, though Eldena, being the Priest here, gets Protect.


Fire is kinda pointless compared to the other two. Ice murderizes Goblins, and Bolt gets a boost in thunderstorms.


Ramza's goal in his knightly training isn't any of their action abilities, but in Equip Armor. A Monk with Equip Armor mocks the early game, before the crazy magic stuff the girls will be doing will utterly ruin everything else.


...It's been over a week now, and nothing. At all.


Finally.


Special attention to Bulk in this battle, as he's not done anything as of yet.

I don't know why I care because he'll be in all of two story battles before the first really good special character joins. Maybe I just want a leveling buddy.


Oh no.


Chocobos! The bane of the beginning player!

Also, it's a night battle, so bows have an accuracy penalty. No one here is an archer, so it doesn't matter currently.


Chocobos have a healing technique, and it's totally free. It heals MA*3 HP, which with this Chocobo's MA is 15 HP. They also move really far. I can see why they'd get a new player really hard.


Fist has no need for magic, so this chemist level is just more JP per action.


Magic has some differences from the swords and stones we've been using so far. First off, it has an MP cost. More importantly, it's a slow action, meaning that Eldena will have to charge the spell before using it, and she's totally vulnerable during that charge time. Third, it's faith-based, so how much it does varies by the target's faith.

In this case, it's [CFa/100 * TFa/100 * MA * 14]. Since Eldena has 63 faith, she'd heal herself for .63*.63*5*14 or 27.783 HP. FFT truncates all decimals, so it's 27 HP.


The goblins and panthers get to move before Cure is done, but they are too far away to do anything about it.


Can't target Fist directly, or the Chocobo would get healed, too. Summons and Draw Out abilities are about the only abilities that discriminate between ally and enemy.

Also, see? I told you it would be 27.


In contrast to all that, Ramza smacking a bird with a sword is refreshingly simple.


Chocobos are too dangerous to leave alive this early, but later on I could take advantage of their healing to get a few more hits in.


On the second round, everyone is out of CT so these faster spells can go off unhindered.


Oh yeah, here's why Wizards are awesome.


Incantations are completely random and don't affect anything. Sadly, they were removed for WotL.


Zap! all that's left is a feather.


The girls don't have weapons, so they're stuck with their tiny fists if not using magic.


However, this weakness allows them to punch allies and not hurt them too bad.


She'll be able to use 4 spells next battle instead of three.


Hahaha, sucks to be you, panther.


I had this awesome loop of Ramza using wish on Bulk, Ramza getting healed, then Norma punching Bulk again.


Then I remembered there were still enemies around.


They get dispatched slowly and cumbersomely, requiring a lot of actions.

Because I really like having more abilities and jobs.


5 level 2 enemies, so it's 10*100.


FUCK


Oh hey, I can show off that glitch now.


Did you know you can use the square button to scroll through abilities? None of them are long enough for this to be relevant, but it's the basis of this glitch.


You can use it on ability pages with more than 8 abilities to highlight an ability you don't quite have the JP for.


Initially, all of Ramza's JP vanishes and neither Antidote nor Hi-Potion are learned.


Exit and reenter the learn menu, and all of the sudden Ramza has 9,999 JP in Chemist!


It only took a bit over 5,000 to master the whole class, though.


This is all I wanted out of the whole thing, and I won't be using it for a damn long time because it's expensive to maintain, especially since I'm already strapped for cash.


And before you accuse me of anything, I'm not doing it again. I'm just considering if Shell is worth the JP. It's not presently.


I could get Fire...


But I have much bigger goals in mind.


Bulk's a knight now so he can take beaks to the face for everyone else.


Same formation as last time? La-


Oh dear god Bulk what did they do to you!?


Sweet christmas that's a brave bird.


Cure's incantation. All four cure spells have variations on blowing energy.


Choco Cure in action.


Norma and Eldena opened Wizard with 100 JP, when the average is about 150. It's taken way too long to get Time Mage open, but it's open now.


Goblins are weak to ice. If Norma did this they would die horribly regardless of their HP.


Chocobos use Choco Cure on their allies, too.


This is what a crystal looks like. They have different colors depending on the allegiance of the deceased. Like, Nanten Knight crystals look different than Hokuten Knight crystals. Ramza's group has its own color.

Anyway, the fight goes swimmingly as divide-and-conquer strategies tear up random encounters who naturally arrive separated.


Time Mages have Haste, Haste 2, and Teleport. These are really, really good abilities and Norma is damn near required to shed enough spillover JP to get everyone Teleport.

I think Teleport is the best movement ability. My brother prefers Move+3.


Oracles have a lot of status spells but without super-duper faith they aren't terribly reliable.


Haste improves CT gain by 1.5. You get more turns then they do so you win more. This is the biggest reason why I got good relationships between Ramza and the girls, so they could tear up the countryside. Fist has a Best relationship so he'll get in on the action.


Blind is cheap and fast, much more so than the other 100 JP spell, Paralyze. Blind doesn't wear off, either, so I could use it to make an annoying enemy essentially disabled.


Ramza finally gets Yell. It gives +1 speed for the rest of the battle. A Yell could give someone the edge to... do things more frequently than everyone else.

Anyway, unless something interesting happens random encounters will be presented in briefer and briefer fashions. I plan on doing one or two more before advancing. Dorter is a dangerous place these days, as major crossroads just beg for thieves.