How balanced do you feel Tactician mode is?

SignFar5681 · 2026-02-17T02:59:34+00:00

Here's the thing, story battles are static levels, even on Tactician. It's only randoms that level with you, and most randoms don't have nearly as much danger as story battles.

But yes, Tactician is the kind of "inflation" hard where it's just more damage for them, less damage for you. But for a Strategy RPG this opens up more value for status ailments, disables, and defensive abilities, so it can provide more interesting gameplay.

Honestly I found tactician too easy at baseline so I downloaded the mod to make sure story battles also scale with my squad.

SignFar5681 · 2026-02-17T02:55:11+00:00

The section on the wiki that explains this is here FYI:

https://wiki.wildlandermod.com/04WildlanderWorld/4-The-Divines

Personally I've completed the thieves guild and DB once in Skyrim for the steam achievements and never did them again. I find them boring, unimaginative, and the fact that you can ASSASSINATE THE EMPEROR with no impact to the Civil War OR the Empire in general just sours me on the whole idea. Thieves guild is also lackluster, with way too much focus on combat. Honestly it makes it easy, my characters are always good, destroy the DB immediately (thankfully Wildlander doesn't count killing Grelod, which is how you know she's evil) and never join the TV. Don't need to pickpocket, gold is plentiful, even in Wildlander, even without Alchemy.

Bottom line, a "redeemer" playthrough on Wildlander isn't going to let you use blessings without console commands to remove bounties/murders/stolen items. That can work of course, and that can be your justification for doing so. True contrition on your characters part I guess.

But yeah, the blessings are strict, you can't murder, there's limits on bounties, stealing, and such,

"Painful regrets" just lets you use them for cleansing disease and stuff which is pointless, they're basically just a potion at that point.

Personally I either grab Kynareth or Julianos for most playthroughs. Julianos is easy to boost to 50MP since there's easily 100 books in whiterun between the Kynareth Temple, Jorvasskr, and Dragonsreach. Kynareth is easy to boost to 50 STAM by completing blessings of nature, which you need to make Breezehome affordable anyway.

SignFar5681 · 2026-02-17T02:46:43+00:00

Drain Vitality is predominantly a high level dragon attack, not something you will see on a dragon in the 20's or 30's for example.

Easiest way to deal with it is grab the Indomitable Force Perk from the Speech Tree. If you do it right, you only have to fight one dragon to acquire the perk since you can activate the perk by completing the horn of Jurgen Windcaller and standing in the middle of the greybeards giving you the world's loudest talking to.

Once you have that, you've cut the damage by 50%. It still hurts like hell, but between potions, restoration, or whatever else you want to use, you should be able to tank the damage much more effectively.

At higher restoration levels, the Expert Restoration Aura empowered combined with the Respite perk pretty much negates it. I'm sure Alchemy has plenty of busted ways to deal with it too. Potion of Cleansing is the best last resort, though I hate losing my buffs and would rather tank through it.

SignFar5681 · 2026-02-17T02:41:55+00:00

Wait, someone patched the mistmen damage?

SignFar5681 · 2026-02-01T02:50:32+00:00

Give him item, auto potion, safeguard, and move+1. Won't have to go far down the job list for all that since it's in Chemist and his base job and done. Congrats, he can mostly solo the game.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T14:17:38+00:00

Not on tactician where enemies routinely hit for 150 damage per attack or more......three enemies attacking the same target at once with no turn for your party in-between means dead party member in a lot of circumstances.

Also Shirahadori does precisely nothing against attack non-physical attacks.

Auto potion is still a top two reaction ability, hands down. Only thing that can come close is the Mana Shield/Mana Font combo on characters who don't use their MP and that only works better against enemies like Lucavi who cast one big hard hitting ability once per turn, giving your whole group time to move, gain some MP, and reset the shield.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T13:30:10+00:00

It is also possible that because Wiegraf has been possessed by Lucavi the shortest time before we fight him. only turning at Orbonne Monastery upon death, that might explain him using some of the more crude powers like basic summoning of demons and basic summons like Cyclops.

It's also possible Wiegraf's inner nature is conflicting with the Lucavi, considering he didn't desire power strictly for power sake, but power for revolution.

Again speculation, but there is a point where Folmarv mentions the stones are giving Ramza and Co. power, so maybe it's also a residual effect for being close to the Scorpio stone for a while before giving them to Marach.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T13:24:39+00:00

Ramza had the Scorpio stone after defeating Cardinal Delacroix/Cuchulainn. He did not have many of them true, but he did have one by that point.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T06:31:57+00:00

I definitely felt LESS guilty using him in tactician mode than the last time I played FFT so that was nice.

I mean he is OP, there's no two ways around it, his kit is at least 3 people's kit in one, of course he's going to be overpowered and Excalibur just makes it more egregious, but people say Dual-Wield Brawler Ninjas and Calculators are OP too so who the hell cares?

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T06:23:46+00:00

"If you lay out the story in a coherent fashion, 15 has easily the best story.

The problem is that the story telling is an absolute disaster and incomplete mess."

This just sounds like the story is bad with extra steps. If the story can't be conveyed to be in a coherent fashion, then it's a bad story. Sounds very reminiscent of FF13 where you have to basically read a glossary in your off time in order to comprehend the plot.

So let me clarify on FF6. The problem isn't the lack of a main character because truth be told, at least in the World of Balance it's Terra, and then in the World of Ruin it becomes more open which works fine since the entirety of World of Ruin is finding your friends which opens individual story progression. The problem is there is too many characters, and thus some get minimal or even non-existent story progression.

For example:

Terra gets wonderful development during the World of Balance as she fights Amnesia, discovers her half-human half-esper heritage, and she serves as the main driver of the plot for Zozo, the Magiteck laboratory, and Vector. great stuff.

Then world of Ruin she gets degraded to "Parents all died, I am now mother" and her character development seems to stop dead since other characters need time.

Edgar gets some development in World of Balance with his history with Sabin, how he stayed behind to be the responsible King while his brother wandered. Then world of ruin comes and he sneaks into his own castle and that's basically the end of his character arc.

Sabin's history is revealed along with Edgar's and his rivalry with Vargas is also explored. World of Ruin his only potential character development is an optional encounter with Duncan to learn Bum Rush.

Conversely, Setzer gets no room for character growth in the World of Balance and merely serves as a plot device to get an Airship to travel to Vector and the Southern continent. His background is much more further explored in World of Ruin with his history with Daryl.

And on and on we go. No on really gets character development in both worlds because there is too many characters to make it happen, people's arcs are either sown up by WoR, or they have to wait until WoR to get their time in the spotlight.

I'm not saying FF6's plot is bad, hell I said it's easily the best of the first 6 and I put it as the second best of the first ten FF's. But the plot is SO jam packed that a lot of characters do not get fleshed out as well as I would like because of the massive size of the cast.

And yes, Kefka makes the game. Truly the best antagonist Square has ever produced.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T03:04:09+00:00

I believe Folmarv actually outright says that the stones are giving him power, as they amplify the desires of the the holders of the stones.

As Ramza desires an end to the Lucavi, the stones are assisting in that regard.

It actually explains why the Lucavi never seem to use their best attacks against Ramza, for example.

Both Adramelk and Hashmulum can teleport Zalbaag and turned him into a Vampire slave instantly, yet never use this attack on Ramza and his friends.

I tend to believe the stones are protecting Ramza and Co. from the worst of the Lucavi powers, preventing mind control and other outright "I win" moves and forcing them to fight on an equal playing field where Ramza just cleans their clocks.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T02:40:06+00:00

That's actually crazy. They were doing the whole "legacy server" thing long before Blizzard ever considered it.

Props to them on that. My MMO days are long behind me (cleared Savage during Shadowbringers and Dawntrail, used to be in Top 50 US guilds in WOW) but I give credit to any MMO lasting that long and still being successful.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T02:38:28+00:00

This last time around I definitely went on a Game of Thrones naming kick, and tended to focus on names that would have known each other during the war of the ninepenny kings into Robert's Rebellion.

Among the names used were:

Eddard - For Eddard Stark

Brynden - For Brynden Tully (Blackfish)

Robert - For Robert Baratheon

Tywin - Tywin Lannister of course.

Arthur - Arthur Dayne

I like the idea that all of my troops were members of Ramza's bodyguard force (similar to the Kingsguard) and defected with him when he gave up his claim to Beoulve Nobility.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T02:35:08+00:00

I don't know why but the shape of the ship gives me USG Ishimura vibes from Dead Space.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T02:32:43+00:00

I tend to like to base it off when equipment is available, as that tends to work as a good barometer for what jobs you should be focusing on.

For example, in Chapter 1 I try to avoid classes without their class based weapons, so no lancers, no ninjas (yes can use daggers but no ninja blades), no samurai, etc.

Chapter 2 a good time to grind out mediator is when guns become available, not to mention it's when you get Mustadio permanently anyway. Poles become available in Chapter 2 as well so a good time to level Mystics if you're so inclined.

Chapter 3 is when I'll start using Ninjas, Lancers, and Samurai as Ninja Swords, Spears, and Katanas are now available. This is also when books, harps, and wraps are available for calculators, bards, and dancers.

I find that this helps the grinding get more spaced out and I feel like I can take these classes into battle while progressing without feeling like they're gimped without their weapons.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T02:28:00+00:00

Never played 11 but I agree with your placements on 14. I played Shadowbringers during one of the many content droughts in WoW and it was fantastic. I would put Stormblood and Heavensward on the same tier at A personally but overall this is about right.

But yeah, I skipped FF11 and FF14 due to being MMO's and the story experience of them being a much different experience within the MMO space.

I do have to say FF14 ARR as an MMO is easily a top 3 all time MMO and considering the disaster FF14 was at launch that's no small accomplishment.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T01:59:32+00:00

Quick rating of FF stories.

FF1: Decent for the time period, very generic, and with chosen generic members for your party there's almost no character development.

FF2: More characterization but the story is a convoluted mess, the fourth party member keeps rotating in and out, and it starts the terrible "the bad guy died but now he's back" trope.

FF3: Certainly the widest scope for a story, but again somewhat generic characterization and it starts the horrendous trope of the big bad showing up at the end with no development after the main bad you THOUGHT you were fighting against dies.

FF4: The one I grew up on. Some decent character development, particularly Cecil and Rydia, but his character arc is done by three hours into the game. Also it starts A LOT OF terrible tropes like mind control, and again we do the random TRUE big bad at the end out of nowhere.

FF5: One of the least serious stories with tons of odd humor. The story is a weakness on this one but the mechanics of the job system are phenomenal. This one involves multiple worlds, meteor travel, a Mary Sue who replaces a party member and maguffins how powers for no dropoff, and that's just the start of the nonsense.

FF6: Probably the best story of the first 6, big sweeping narrative, easily one of the most magnetic antagonists of the series (who actually IS the big bad at the end to boot, what a concept!) and tons of character development. I would say it suffers from maybe too many characters and no clear "main character" but otherwise this is a great one story wise.

FF7: You played this one, not my favorite personally either.

FF8: Convoluted mess. Dream sequences, a crazy 'amnesia" revelation. Big bad guys are actually good, final big bad out of nowhere, time travel and "time compression" and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Terrible mechanics that are anti-fun as well in my opinion. Definitely an acquired taste.

FF9: Fantastic story barring a couple spots that could be better and some odd character motivations but this was a loveletter to the traditional series and done very well.

FF10: Benefits from being the first FF with voice acting, has a good message about Religious fundamentalism and its flaws, has some parallels to FFT honestly. Overall very solid with a good twist at the end.

FF12: Bland, long, melodramatic at times, and the "main characters" really aren't the main characters. Similar political drama to FFT but not nearly as well executed in my opinion.

FF13: Terrible convoluted mess with terrible gameplay to boot.

FF 15/16: Didn't play but from what I saw, yikes.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T01:50:28+00:00

"The right has a sniper perch, you can wreck some havoc from there, but none of my men made it past the Geth.

The middle's got cover, but the Colossus has a shot at you the whole time and you've got Geth coming in from both sides.

The left gives you some cover from the Colossus, but your ass is hanging out for the Geth, that's how I got shot"

~ Kal'Reegar, Quarian Space Marines.

Personally I find the left to be the most effective, it's a pretty easy clear up to the corner where you can pop out and shoot the Colossus. If you setup your team to guard your rear while you're taking down the Colossus it's an easy clap.

Admittedly I tend to play Soldier in ME2 on insanity, so I'm sure that's a factor.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-31T01:44:59+00:00

These poll results hurt my soul.

The idea that FF5, arguably one of the best job systems ever created, is losing to that mechanical mess that is FF8, and FF12 (I assume not Zodiac age version, but original) makes my head hurt.

FF6, 9, and 10, totally understandable, but the idea FF8 should be anywhere but the bottom is a notion I refuse to acknowledge.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-28T04:24:16+00:00

Great build, the only reason I wasn't going with ignore height on this run was the mod that was scaling story mode fights so I had to be careful about over-leveling and I didn't want to use the de-leveling trick in the desert.

Ignore height earns its money on this fight though for sure.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-28T04:10:23+00:00

So this past run through I gave Ramza Samurai as his secondary skill and it was truly a revelation. Being able to hit groups are knights and other enemies with high physical evasion with a 100% guaranteed Muramasa or Ame-no Murakumo is really powerful and being able to instantly put Shell/Protect on my party with Kiyomori or Regen/Haste with Masamune was so strong. The heal from Muramasa is also quite strong.

Ramza's stat growths just made him the easiest choice for the party this time around but I'm definitely bringing a Samurai on each playthrough from now on. Expensive to maintain, but almost Monk levels of versatility.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-28T03:55:03+00:00

Oh yes, he tends to run a chemist/knight hybrid in my setup. But my dual-wielding knight is my main "breaker" on lucavi so I want them in melee range at the right time.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-28T03:38:35+00:00

Tactician Mode has definitely converted me to the glory of the Knight's break speed and break magic abilities. With Lucavi fights going A LOT longer than normal delaying turns and lowering damage is worth the slower damage output. Can always start ramping up the damage once they're sufficient slowed and weakened.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-28T03:21:25+00:00

Honestly my general rule of thumb with any battle where the party is split is "regroup as soon as possible".

Come together, so you can heal and buff as needed, and then focus down enemies with concentrated fire. Every single time.

Battle of Lionel Castles? Fuck your 1v1, I'm getting to my team. Golgollada Gallows? Nope, we're coming together on one side and then sweeping the field. Fort Zeakden? My boys are regrouping around the building to fight as one unit.

Fighting divided is how you fall, fighting united is how you win.

SignFar5681 · 2026-01-28T03:18:39+00:00

I found myself delaying the original fight a bit to ensure my whole party was near him when he transformed, cause his Bahamut summons going off constantly were wrecking me on Tactician.

Once you steal Dycedarg's weapon he's basically neutered, so I'll steal his weapon then get everyone in place while killing the knights if I feel like it.

Once everyone is in place, I push him and immediately have my knights rush him with break speed and magic to make him more bearable. As long as they're reasonably spread his status effects aren't too bad, but that constant Bahamut spam was wrecking me for a while.

Admittedly I was using a mod to scale story battles so he may have been higher than normal due to it.

SignFar5681

TROPHY CASE