LFT fast (not speedrun) playthrough writeup. No nonsense and few limitations, I want to see how hard the game feels trying to be as straightforward as possible with my knowledge of it. I do impose some rules.
* No superfluous grinding (notably no randoms, though I fatfinger a couple, once in Ch1 and Ch2 and just end them ASAP. They're uneventful.) I don't ever crystal farm, though once a fight is under control I'm not above having PCs that are out of range of finishing the last enemy unit(s) bonk themselves for JP while the ones who actually can reasonably end the fight do so. At some points I delay ending a few encounters to get a specific JP count for my sanity but it's always only a handful of turns.
* No propositions or poaching that isn't in a story fight, no going out of my way to MFI overpowered picks, etc.
* Technically I can use special chars, and objectively it's correct to use Orlandu once you get him, but that's boring. I settle for just using Agrias instead of having to worry about a 4th generic; also to see how she feels since I haven't used her in a while.
* No Calculator (it's dubious if the time spent unlocking and leveling it is even worth it for maingame LFT, though it's a lot more tolerable with props) but also the "best" way to use Calc is still degenerate full battlefield strats so eh, I'm not into that.
* I use my starter generics and spend no time in the soldier office and get 3 female Capricorns with Ramza Capricorn. Which means they all have worst compatibility with Agrias. OH WELL
Unfortunately with the emulator I'm using there seems to be some sort of bug that's affecting some damage formulas to be way lower than they should be, notably Spark from Bombs, some Elementals, and (most relevantly) spellguns all doing single digit damage. So far this hasn't really mattered in a meaningful way (Balk 1 ended within a single round of actions for me and he wouldn't have OHKOed regardless) but may as well disclaimer it.
The long-term team composition goal I had in mind was:
- 2 female generics beelining for Bolt/MAU into Ramuh/Moogle, then using Summon to carry Ch1-2 (and part of Ch3) while they branch into Yin-Yang and Time respectively
- 1 male generic going for Ninja with Item secondary
- Ramza going for Draw Out because female MA while going through the physical tree is less painful
- Agrias (Geomancer or Knight, grinding Holy Sword in easy fights)
It's a fairly straightforward composition that balances between strong aoe damage/healing, one dedicated speedy Item user and a "let them approach me" gameplan for the most part. DO and Holy Sword fill in the gaps where appropriate as instant, unevadable damage with splash. It is notably very revival light: just one Item user. I never end up using Raise for pretty much the whole game on either caster, valuing their offensive/utility magic more; Guts for Wish does come up as a backup plan for Ch1-3, as Ramza just spends a lot of time unlocking Samurai and never can stop to pick up a decent secondary skillset. He also started with Yell which is a decent JP filler move.
Is this ideal? Probably I should've just caved and had another dedicated Item secondary (Ramza or one of the casters.) But honestly, I find FFT a lot more brain-engaging when you run low revival sources, so I just rolled with it.
I recorded the whole thing (including fight downtime, shopping, etc.) as a reference so if you are interested you can check it out. Still got the endgame stretch to finish but I doubt it will put up much of a fight.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2255127851 - start to Ch2 Zirekile
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2255436567 - Ch2 Zaland to Ch3 Yuguo
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2256671378 - Ch3 Riovanes to Ch4 Bervenia (uncleared)
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2256671649 - Bervenia to Bethla
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2258755690 - Germinas to UBS5
Writeups for Ch1 and 2 for now, I'll do the rest at a later point.
Chapter 1In Ch1 this means Wizard/Summoner, Thief/Archer, and Monk for these units respectively.
Everything up to Dorter doesn't really deserve comment, although Mandalia Plains did open with a Wizard killing Algus immediately with 41 collateral Bolt damage.
Sand Rat: Complete slaughter, the two Wizards sweep with Bolt and Poison and my Archer finishes off the enemy Archer by claiming the high ground first. None of the units ever get out of their deathtrap save the Monk who starts outside.
Miluda 1: Also one-sided, only one Thief gets an attack off and all the other enemy units are dead before they can do anything.
Miluda 2: Requires a bit more careful zoning to deny the enemy Knights any meaningful hits. Miluda's tanky enough that my slow hang back and pick off approach means everything else dies before her, but I'm never in any danger.
Wiegraf 1: Harder than it needed to be mainly because I'm being stingy with JP and not picking up Bolt 2 or getting Ramuh early, opting to save for MAU. This means my offense is quite limited for a blitz approach, so I end up killing all the support instead. Lucked out a bit with some evades and Ramza never eating a Crush Punch ID proc. Probably still would've done ok even if it'd gone south but likely I should've just picked up better damage beforehand.
Ziekden: MAU is done, so the girls go Time Mage to unlock Summoner for Ch2. Archer is great for obvious reasons in this fight. Kill opening Wizard (who almost always charges an OHKO on Ramza so you don't really have a choice), then go after Algus, usual deal. He gets some good Auto Potion RNG but it's not enough. Poison gets extra value here.
Overall, chapter 1 is predictable, Black Magic just rips it in half handily - nothing can really compete with the raw damage output+splash and Poison's range is great for Knights and bosses. Archer feels very good in some fights too and since Ramza needs a lot of time in Monk to unlock Samurai, Repeating Fist's early OPness gets to shine. Battle Boots for basically the whole chapter as well, the +1 PA/MA accessories are honestly kinda traps for the most part.
Chapter 2My male generic wants to head to Ninja eventually but since it's ultimately just a carrier destination there's no real rush. I dedicate this chapter to getting more of Item finished and spending a lot of time in Thief, for Move+2.
Ramza similarly needs to unlock Samurai, although unlike the male generic he would rather start accruing JP there ASAP. However since actually playing and leveling on Samurai is pretty painful I also decide that he goes Thief where he can to pick up Move+2 as well. Both of them grab HP Restore as a generic reaction (I have a very high opinion of it for 300 JP.) Otherwise he just bounces between jobs for unlocks and runs Guts secondary and spends an awful lot of time Yelling. The idea is that...
...the two female generics will carry this chapter by blowing shit up with Ramuh. Moogle gets picked up too, those two summons alone make for an incredible skillset for a long stretch of the game IMO. I decide against bothering with more in Summon for now. They'll go Oracle and TM once that's done.
Agrias will round out the roster at the end. For Zigolis/Goug I'll just throw in a chocobo as filler.
Dorter 2: Possibly the most one-sided fight I've ever had here; the enemies decide to bunch up in a nice cross formation and uh that's that. Basically no meaningful enemy actions occur, and as the last surviving Thief and Archer retreat back to their inevitable slow deaths I bonk the guests some taking my time to go up and finish them off. Summoner gets unlocked after this.
Araguay (1 wipe): I opt to be greedy and not mount Boco, he gets his eyes gouged out and panic runs into the welcoming arms of a Goblin Punch. FIRST WIPE I'VE EVER HAD ON THIS MAP IN ANY FFT VERSION, oops.
Zirekile: A slow ass fight where I maximize my JP-gaining actions while playing it safe with my limited revival. We finally do have Ramuh here although it's genuinely less efficient than Poison against all the enemy Knights.
Zaland: Oh hey a very nice box formation with the two Wizards and two Knights, oh look they're all dead to double Ramuh. Again the fastest clear I've ever had in this encounter. Moogle is picked up so we're done with playing Summoner for now.
Bariaus Hill: Musty solos one Summoner, I spread out to avoid Elemental splash and carefully bait the Lancers forward to pick them off without letting them land fatal hits. I do eat a death or two but not my Item user, and clutch a Haste out to dodge the enemy Summoner's Shiva. Another zoning-heavy fight. Also my planned Oracle doesn't have Priest JLV2 yet so she has to make a detour here for that.
Zigolis: A pig spawns and promptly gets poached (running dual Thieves right now!) Actually this fight drags out longer than I'd like - Skeleton Souls 2HKO, the opening Ghost gets a Shadow Stitch off and the pig annoyingly evades easy death early on and keeps Musty sleep locked. So I spend a lot of MP using Moogle to avoid getting killed and two of the early undead units actually reach 0 on their timer near the end of the fight. Fortunately neither revive, though it wouldn't have been that big a deal, just annoying.
Goland: I mess up a lot of my plays here so it's worse than it has to be. However ultimately it's a fight that largely centers around baiting the Summoners to their death and not getting too messed up by the Archers in your turn order killing your casters. I'm careful not to lose my Chemist so it never spirals out of control. (RIP Boco though)
Bariaus Valley: Musty gets a one time cameo here, and with a Chemist on the other side this fight just sort of crumples over (guns are really good here against the casters and the Knights just aren't in a great position to threaten you.)
Now is probably a good time to take stock of my exact setup/how much I've grinded thus far...
* Ramza - LV11, unlocking Samurai still. In Knight to get it to JLV4 and also because Golgorand is pain. Normally Guts secondary (Yell & Wish), has Item here with Phoenix Down from spillover JP. RSM HP Restore / Move+2. I had Equip Spear from a Lancer dip and was planning to use it, but stupidly sold my Javelin and did not buy a Mythril Spear before I was locked out of castles. I may deeply regret this soon.
* Draper (male generic) - LV11, finishing Ninja unlocks still. In Geomancer to pick up Attack UP. Item secondary (Hi-Potion, Phoenix Down.) RSM HP Restore / Move+2 like Ramza.
* Stephanie (female generic) - LV10, Time Mage (Haste, Slow, Don't Move), saving for Teleport. Summon (Ramuh/Moogle), MAU.
* Annette (female generic) - LV11, Oracle (Silence Song, Paralyze). Summon (Ramuh/Moogle), MAU.
* Agrias - LV13. Freshly joined (with only Stasis Sword.) Immediately in Geo to actually do damage and work on Attack UP.
And so we get to...
Golgorand (1 wipe): Conventional FFT wisdom says you want your casters to match enemy Speeds (or be 1 below) so you can immediately cast on them freely. For Chapter 1 this is generally 5 Speed, for Chapter 2 this is 6, and for Chapter 3 this is 7. LFT Knights throw a ripple in this since they are slower than vanilla (90 mult instead of 100) but this works mostly still.
The two enemy Knights on the ground in Golgorand in vanilla are usually not a big deal - they're 3 move and don't have secondaries. So you can just kite them, forever. In LFT they have 5 move (Move+1 preset) and one of them has Elemental as a secondary. This is kind of a big deal. So big that both of my casters, who are 6 Speed and on Ramza's PBF side, end up eating shit and dying before they get a single action.
I try my best to recover (still killing Gafgarion before his second turn) and do get some good luck so it looks like it's not totally hopeless for a bit but ultimately 9 units vs 3 is just way too much action economy disadvantage to fight uphill on.
On the second attempt the casters are now 7 speed and actually get to move, although things are still grim early on as they usually are - a struggle to simply stay alive and not get buried into being forced to revive while still taking out Gafgarion ASAP. At some point the Yin-Yang Archer also confuses Ramza and my male generic, and they're just left floundering on the wrong side of the map for a good portion. And then finally the last insult to injury: in forgetting to get a spear for Ramza he and Agrias are both on Coral Swords... and I forget one of the enemy Knights has fixed Rubber Shoes. AND both my casters only have Ramuh as their damage spell (and the Oracle is on a rod.) Which means only the Time Mage with the Rainbow Staff, and the Geomancer with the Mythril Sword, are capable of damaging him. And said Geo was Zombie'd while he was confused midway through, so if he goes down, I can't revive him either. (Spoilers: he does go down eventually from lack of healing)
Long story short, the fight does end up boiling down to just the two floor enemy Knights, and eventually they both get a turn to 2HKO my Time Mage (who I have tried desperately to keep alive the whole time). FORTUNATELY I win the 50/50 on undead revival on the Geo, and he lands the last fatal blow to Mr. Rubber Shoes.
I felt very tested at all points throughout this fight that I'll plug a direct timeline link to it:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2255436567?t=2h7m53s By far the hardest fight in Ch2 and up to this point in general, nothing else comes close, but that's Golgorand for you.
Lionel Gate: I don't even bother with Rubber Shoes here, Ramza COULD win the duel handily (he's finally in Samurai! And 2handing a spear for 120 damage pokes to Gaffy, plus Gaffy knocks him into HP Restore range) but I just go for the lever to be safe. The Summoner charges Shiva which is the one scary move that happens in this fight and is instantly shut down by Silence Song, so that's that.
Queklain: Quek lands double DS and no sleep. Pdown one of the Knights because they're bodyblocking me. Oops, I forget to set Holy Sword on Geo Agrias. Doesn't matter, I slap him with a Slow 2 on my Time Mage's first turn and have too much damage; he kills one more person but that's not enough.
As predicted, Ramuh dominated Chapter 2, although at 7 CT and with far more dangerous enemy setups it's not quite as overpowering the way Black Magic is in Chapter 1. Silence Song was the other clear winner; even if you don't pull out blitz wins at Zaland or Goug, it shuts the most dangerous units down there real fast, and the only one at Lionel to boot. My male units kinda sucked at damage but they did their job at keeping enemies distracted or pulled into position for my casters to blast away, and they spent most of the chapter investing in unlocks/RSM to be relevant in the future as Ramuh becomes less of a powerful button.
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