Final Fantasy Tactics Part #18

Part 18: Zaland Fort City

If you're really kind-hearted, Princess, you'll lend me your robe.

Sweet, sweet absurd and unfair MA score, how I've missed you...

Ovelia isn't in another fight, so unequipping her ends perfectly fine.

Dorter's selling more Triangle Hats. They give 1 MA, in contrast to that Headgear's 1 PA.

The first pole is available. It's a magic spear!

In that it has the two-panel range of a spear but it's MA based. Oracles are surprisingly good at melee combat with these in hand.

Norma will end cities with Shiva now.

Perhaps we have, perhaps we have not.

As soon as we step on the first area on the way to Lionel, there's a battle. Of course.

Ivalice seems rife with conflict these days...

A lone man runs from something unseen, peering left and right to make sure he's not caught.

Perhaps he should've peered harder.

The knight pressures the young man.

That "Don't know nothin'" routine rarely works, dude.

: Don't play dumb! Mustadio! Don't care about your father? Just give us the 'holy stone' and we'll return him....OK guys, get him!

Mustadio leaps up the wall to put some distance between them and himself.

: If he lays a hand on my father he'll never see the stone!

This turns it from "Save Mustadio" to "Defeat All Enemies" and that's wonderful when Mustadio is such a blatant target. I think it has a Brave boost too but Ramza increases his own brave so hard I can't notice.

: I don't want to be involved, but I can't just leave him. I'll help him!

Mustadio pulls out some strange weapon. He skillfully wounds one of the enemy archers with it.

It's one of the famous "guns" from the Romanda invasion of the Fifty Years War. Few are around, and few are willing to operate such a frightening weapon. The ear-splitting noise, the fire and smoke they belch - it's a wonder Mustadio is so calm with one.

He also knows how to render a person's legs incapable of movement with a single shot.

The danger here are the Wizards. They've got Wizard Robs, Fire rods, and cast Fire2 and, if you're unlucky, Fire3.

Agrias doesn't get many chances to do anything, due to her low move and jump and having the worst starting position imaginable.

This is a very risky maneuver. Both of the wizards have spells pinned on Eldena, one of them is specifically on her tile. This can only work because charging only affects physical damage taken, not magical. Whether Eldena makes it or not, Norma will survive to cast her spell.

Fire2's incantation.

Eldena goes down from the fires, but Norma's summoning is uninterrupted.

Their fatal mistake was not killing the summoner.

After this, the battle is very simple. The knights can't keep up with our range, and the archers don't hit very hard.

Guns have innate Concentrate, so gun attacks never miss. They deal WP^2 damage. Mustadio's gun has 6 WP, so it deals 36 damage. Guns are entirely stat independent so they work fine on low-stat jobs like Chemist. Incidentally, Chemists can equip guns.

Fist revives Eldena, and without the wizards there, she can Cure herself and Norma back to full health with ease.

It takes Ramza several tries, but he eventually punches this archer to death.

Auto-Potion is keeping Ramza at max HP very well.

Mustadio, Agrias, and Eldena work together to defeat the knight.

Ramza finally causes a fatal concussion.

: Yeah, I think so... Thanks for helping me.

It's like they want me to steal Mustadio's gun.

: Bart Company? The Importer?

: You know them? They're not just traders. They're a criminal syndicate into everything from smuggling and slavery.

: Why were they after you?

: You know why they call us mechanics?

: When St. Ajora was alive, airships were in the sky, and human robots in town. But time passed, technology was lost, and no one knows if it ever really existed.

: But the civilization must have existed. Parts from many airships and machines are buried under Goug. Mechanics are the ones who restore the 'past legacies'.

: That weird thing you used in the battle, was that one of the machines?

: Oh, this?

Mustadio pulls out his gun and demonstrates the workings of the weapon.

: Hm...

: Why's Bart Company after you?

: You said you were going to see the Cardinal. He was a hero of the Fifty Year War. People in Lionel still think of him as a hero. My father, too. The Cardinal is the only one who can unite this country. I know he'd grant your wish. Then the princess would be safe.

: Yeah, and...?

: Can you take me with you? I want to see the Cardinal!

: Why?

: To save my father! The Cardinal's the only one who can rescue him from Bart! But he wouldn't want to meet some mechanics like myself. So, please. Take me with you!

: You still haven't told us why they're after you!

: ...I can't tell you now.

: Then, we can't take you.

: I beg you! Trust me! I must see the Cardinal!