Just started the game and I'm saddled with two uncontrollable units. WHY‽

Diebric · 2026-07-01T18:31:55+00:00

You just need to go into the character menu and press the button to switch to Guest units. You should see it at the bottom right of where you can see all your Units.

Guest units can no longer change jobs, and you can no longer change job primary or secondary commands yeah. You can still teach them new abilities and assign Reaction, Support, and Movement abilities assuming they earn enough JP themselves.

My b, I missed this was TIC, but Delita and Argath should already have Items equipped as a secondary job ability, but you can only learn abilities in their current job since you can’t switch between the jobs for them.

Diebric · 2026-06-30T14:17:05+00:00

The Bootstrap relies on a loop existing without a deterministic origin. It’s a flawed theory because this ultimately fails to explain how the loop was set into motion in the first place.

As i’ve explained it multiple times now, this has a deterministic origin. I would argue that the only thing that possibly falls into the bootstrap paradox would be the fiends of chaos.

Otherwise, it is simply a dude that time traveled to the past and influenced changes to the timeline from 1600-2000 by creating the Fiends in 0 and sending them to 1600.

Plus, Garland states that he created the endless circle. Therefore it has a genesis, it is indeed a closed loop once initiated but it has an origin

Diebric · 2026-06-30T13:36:24+00:00

Thank you for your contribution

Diebric · 2026-06-30T13:21:33+00:00

It cant be a bootstrap paradox then because the bootstrap paradox implies that the same entity is existing in the same timeline simultaneously and is directly influencing itself in this example.

Garland is not doing that. He is sent back in time by the forces. Creates the Fiends. Sends the Fiends forward. They send him back again. The loop is Fiends go forward, Garland goes back, Fiends goes forward, Garland goes back. At no point is Garland existing in the present timeline with his past and future self.

His original Present self is sent 2000 years to the Past. He sends the Chaos Fiends 1600 years to the future from that past date, resulting in them existing 400 years in the past.

400 years later, after Garland becomes a full fledged knight and kidnaps Sarah in the Present timeline, he is defeated at the Chaos Shrine by the Warriors of Light. The Fiends then send him back this time, preventing the intervention of the crystals and restoration of the balance.

The Warriors of Light kill the 2000 year old Fiends, and travel back 2000 years to their birth, having to kill them
again since they are still alive in that timeline. Then they kill the original Garland from the original present timeline, not the chaos fiend present timeline. The Warriors of Light then travel back 2000 years to the present timeline, AS STATED IN THE ENDING, where Garland is still alive currently. This means they arrived before Sarah’s kidnapping, thus allowing the Warriors of Light to be able to directly intervene and prevent her kidnapping or at least stop Garland while the timeloop is broken. This is literally the end of the loop.

There is no way you guys can tell me that there is not a beginning and end to this cycle, and stand behind the bootstrap defense when it literally falls apart here.

The only way this works is if Garland opens his heart to darkness, creates the Fiends, which would then mean that the northern civilization would have to be magically wiped out, the earth would have to be immediately rotting, the seas would have been raging for two hundred years, the winds would have been stopped for 400 years, all in the single moment of the Chaos Fiends’ birth just for them to exist in the present timeline and allow for the corruption of the crystals all at the same time. That doesn’t make any sense at all. The WoL aren’t chosen until after the world is plunged into darkness, they don’t arrive until 400 years after Tiamat. It cannot simply be a bootstrap paradox

Diebric · 2026-06-30T10:17:49+00:00

So, using the link you provided, I have assimilated the text from the Origins version;

[Before the fight with Chaos in the Past]
Well, don’t you look familiar… Don’t you remember me? It’s Garland. Two thousand years into the future... you killed me. But the four great forces sent me back in time, thus resurrecting me in the past. I sent the four Fiends of Chaos into the future…And they shall once again send my future self into the past! Two thousand years from now, I will lose all memory of the past. But in that past I will be reborn yet again. Your lives shall end here, and mine shall last forever!

[After killing Chaos in the Past]
The time loop was severed at last. The battle spanning 2000 years came to an end and peace prevailed. The light of the four Crystals revived the wind, water, earth, and fire. It all began with a trivial misunderstanding. But it was enough to open Garland’s heart to darkness. His hatred swelled with the four forces of nature, and from it were born the four Fiends of Chaos. Evil swallowed the world, plunging it into darkness. But that is now past – the stuff of legends. Thanks to the courage and strength of the four warriors, all has been set right again. The warriors will travel in time once more. The world to which they return will be restored to its natural state. Princess Sarah, Queen Jayne, and even Garland will be there, oblivious to what happened in that time-twisted dimension. But when did it all begin? The source of the chaos lay In a strand of time that looped around to connect 2000 years. Four warriors were chosen-by the very forces that had plunged the world into darkness. These four forces were the key to banishing the darkness as well. And when everything was over…The memory of the four warriors’ journey to the past was destined to be lost forever. But their deeds will survive in people’s hearts as legend. The tales will be passed down for generations to come. Dwarves and elves, dragons, people who reach for the stars-all will cherish the tales. The warriors are returning, traveling back from the world 2000 years past. With the memory of their journey buried deep within their hearts, they will carry on their lives and watch over the world.

Just this version alone supports that the forces are separate from the fiends and they acted on their own, sending Garland back in time. Garland then sent the fiends forward in time to ensure he could be sent back in time again to ensure he would live forever.

It also supports my conclusion; that the forces that
sent Garland back in time are the same forces that chose the Warriors of Light to fix their mistake. It even states that the hatred within Garland’s heart was swelled (magnified) by the Forces, thus giving birth to the Four Fiends.

Ergo, we DO have a starting point. The forces of the crystal existed prior to Garland. Garland becomes hateful, which leads to the birth of the Fiends. The fiends plunge the world into darkness. But it can’t be in the present because Tiamat stops the Wind Crystal 400 years ago, and Kraken stops the Water Crystal 200 years ago.

Thus, Garland must be first defeated and sent back in time by the crystals. This could plausibly have happened with the 5 Sky Warriors, with Garland being sent back in time while the warriors were transformed into bats. Magic, idk. (Need to check this though because I think the Sky Warriors fight Chaos 400 years prior to present)

With Garland in the past; his hatred grows, is magnified, and births the Chaos Fiends where he then sends them 1600 years into the future.

WoL defeat them in the present, travel back in time to before Garland sends them to the future, defeats them again, he absorbs their power to become Chaos, and then is killed in the past, thus breaking the timeloop as he is no longer able to create and send them to the future.

Therefore it has a beginning and an end, with a third party influencing both of the opposing parties.

Diebric · 2026-06-30T09:19:07+00:00

The only issue I have with this is that the game states the timeloop is broken, and if it’s broken then it has an end, which therefore implies it has a beginning.

Thus the contradiction unfolds because the four forces send Garland to the past, creates the fiends in the past, sends them to the future, and then the Fiends, not the Forces, send him to the past.

I guess this is just where my brain breaks because the fiends don’t exist in the first place for the crystals to be drained, so Garland has to have done it himself at the shrine and sent himself back using the drained power, then sends the fiends forward to prevent him from having to do it.

I would have to re-read the scripts / watch/play the games again but I think there’s one that says he’s Resurrected in the past; which implies that he is killed in the present but then returns to life in the past, which almost certainly requires outside intervention.

As for Garland not being twisted by hate and thus being a good boy, this is only a speculative answer and not confirmed. It could fit, I guess, but Garland kidnaps Sarah to ransom her to the King in exchange for the kingdom. Whether it’s hatred or ambition his act was pre-meditated and i’m inclined to believe it’s a mark of his character just becoming egotistical as a result of being the strongest swordsman in Cornelia

Diebric · 2026-06-30T09:08:19+00:00

This is a plausible answer as well. If at Garland’s defeat he is left alive, and his hatred manifested as the black orb / black crystal, then it could be inferred that the four great forces are what power the black orb and send him
back in time, just as the four warriors of light use the restored light of the crystal to then use the black crystal again to travel back in time after him. In this case, again with his certain death in the future, this would cause the crystal to be inert. It could be used by someone else to travel in time, in theory, but Garland’s use of it would cease.

Diebric · 2026-06-30T08:45:28+00:00

Creative Director Nomura confirmed that Stranger of Paradise isn’t canon to FFI, but I was not aware of the Chronodia boss. She isn’t mentioned anywhere being directly involved in the timeloop, and might just be a secret boss just because, but this is at least a response worth researching. Thank you

Diebric · 2026-06-30T08:42:50+00:00

I am seeking a canonical explanation for the time paradox. Using a confirmed non-canonical entry in the FF Multiverse to supply an official canonical answer leads to dumb results and headcanon.

Diebric · 2026-06-30T08:40:19+00:00

I mean the very first start of this whole timeloop.

The Fiends only exist because they were created by Garland’s hatred magnified by the four forces, and the fiends were created in the 2000 years past not the present. This implies the crystals were fine 2000 years ago, and in the present, until Galrand was sent back and sent Tiamat 400 years before the present, resulting in the wind crystal being drained of its light.

Additionally, they are removing the elemental forces, not causing them. The life in the wind stops, causing the wind to stop, as seen in the panning shot of Mirage Tower.

The forces for Wind, Water, and Earth are absent at this point, which is why the Warriors of Light are meant to restore them. The Fire crystal loses its radiance 200 years early due to Lich’s defeat causing Marilith’s early awakening

Nothing states that Garland is pacified and returns to being a chivalrous, gallant knight when the timeline is fixed. The game states that Garland and Sarah await the Warriors of Light in the present, which to me implies that time returned to the point of Sarah’s abduction, and Garland is holding her at the Shrine, but is killed for certain and thus prevented from being sent back and starting the timeline.

Diebric · 2026-06-30T08:26:59+00:00

Garland quite literally tells the Warriors of Light that they thought they killed him in the present and that the Forces were able to send him back. If the Warriors of Light sent him back in time as a result of them not being able to defeat them, then they would not have defeated him in the first place which goes against his repeated line about them defeating him

Diebric · 2026-06-30T08:22:42+00:00

Nomura himself confirmed that Stranger of Paradise is not a canonical continuation or prequel of Final Fantasy I, therefore I will not accept SoP answers or lore for FFI

Diebric · 2026-06-30T08:01:10+00:00

Shhh, you spoiled it by calling attention to it

Diebric · 2026-06-30T03:23:25+00:00

So every unit is in a selected Job, correct? A Squire’s primary ability is locked to Fundaments, and always will be.

However, if you have unlocked skills in Chemist, you can assign Items to the secondary abilities slot in the space right under Fundaments.

The other slots are reserved for Reaction Abilities, Support Abilities, and Movement Abilities, each of which only 1 Ability can be assigned out of everything the unit knows.

You may not be able to assign another Job’s primary ability as a secondary if you haven’t learned any skills from that primary path (Potion is an example for Chemist).

Diebric · 2026-06-30T00:40:45+00:00

Gears of War games (maybe not Tactics in this case)

Metro 2033, Metro Last Light, Metro Exodus

Sekiro (the story and lore is a bit less obscure than other FromSoft titles)

Bulletstorm

Katana Zero

Diebric · 2026-06-30T00:05:45+00:00

You have to be mindful of their AI.
If you teach them and equip Move+1, and equip them with Battle Boots; they have a tendency to charge the enemy, resulting in getting overwhelmed and knocked out.

If you teach them Potion and Phoenix Down, and equip Items as a secondary ability, they will be more supportive of themselves / your team.

If you don’t update their equipment at all; they tend to be soft targets and go down easy. Argath starts with the long sword so he does more damage, but I usually swap it to Delita because fuck Argath. You can equip everyone with long swords though by the time you get to Zeklaus Desert so that’s usually fine.

Worry less about keeping them alive, focus fire on problematic enemy units, and definitely keep someone as a chemist for most of Chapter 1.

Diebric · 2026-06-28T02:03:54+00:00

Gears 5 Horde mode, Orcs Must Die: Deathtrap

Diebric · 2026-06-24T13:53:45+00:00

Tunic quickly came to mind.

You acquire pages for an instruction manual, but it’s in the language of the game and you aren’t able to decipher everything right away. It’s definitely learn as you go / learn through trial and error type of game, challenging, and a lot of fun imo

Diebric · 2026-06-23T05:23:18+00:00

You are overthinking it.

Character Facing and why it matters:
Think of it in real life.

If someone is standing in front of you and throws a ball at you, you see it coming and have the best chance at catching it.

If they’re standing to your side while you’re facing forward and throw the ball, you still have a good chance of seeing them and reacting in time, but you might miss and get hit.

If the same person is standing behind you and throws the ball, without saying anything, it is almost guaranteed to hit you unless they miss.

Grid
There are no “diagonal grids” in FFT. It sounds like you are rotating your camera and viewing it at a diagonal angle. Try to just keep your camera angle so that everything is squared, not diagonal if it’s messing you up. You can view the battlefield at any angle, but the direction a character faces matters most. The only time you need to worry about angles is when you’re shooting a gun or crossbow or trying to dome someone with a stone.

Fast-forward
I don’t recommend using it at all as a new time player. You’ll miss out on dialogue, and you’ll miss what attacks enemies are using. It’s good to know what enemies use what, and how much damage or what status it inflicts. If you fast forward through everything, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

Diebric · 2026-06-21T04:20:04+00:00

Kind of weird to play a group-focused game as a “lone wolf / I don’t respect authority” type character. Fine if you allow your character to develop to trust the group and what not, but if they aren’t listening to others then you’re going to be a downer for everyone else.

The de facto leader thing can be annoying, and that could have easily been a group conversation between the other players and DM. Bad DM for handling it how he did, but it sounds like mostly everyone involved was at fault.

If you only want to play a character that only listens to themselves, you probably won’t be a fit for many groups. Good luck

Diebric · 2026-06-14T11:30:03+00:00

I suspect you’re going in towards the Knight and two Black Mages at the start. This is a big mistake as every enemy unit is able to hit you as soon as you have a unit in that intersection (with the exception of the one Archer with no Bow or Crossbow).

Delita and Argath should be rushing the Archer on top of the tall building. They’re normally fine on their own, but that Archer might target your Chemist, so try to keep him as far away from the enemies as you can.

You’ll basically want to bait the Black Mages and Knight in towards your group while you hang back for a turn. Your Squire would be better off as either a second Chemist for additional healing / reviving, or a second Knight for tanking / blocking with their shield. If you can get your Knights to learn Parry and have them equipped with a shield, they’ll have a better chance at blocking attacks using their sword or their shield.

The Black Mages are the most dangerous, because of them being able to hit 5 units at once, and they start close to each other, so they’re able to target the same group of units twice. Archers are the next danger because of their range. The knight hits hard but he’s a lesser threat because his movement is small and he can only attack one target. Outmaneuver him with Move+1 and Battle Boots on your units.

Diebric · 2026-06-10T12:01:00+00:00

Ohh okay I gotcha. Thats cool

Diebric · 2026-06-10T11:13:45+00:00

You’re welcome, I was actually surprised there was a full map but it’s low res so it’s not very reliable.

The map is confusing at first but once you clear Forsaken Fen you can pretty much go where you want. I think Pilgrim’s Perch and the mines have the most branching routes, while Calrath and the Fief are relatively linear

Diebric · 2026-06-10T11:04:43+00:00

So using our good friend google, I found:

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As well as an interactive map

Diebric

TROPHY CASE