Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Lets just call this official)

[Kidnemo]

Mog Knights look pretty depressing IMO. Moogles are better suited to being Gunners and Jugglers, and other classes make better front line fighters.

True that.

Though I haven't tried building any moogles with more combat oriented classes at first (mine have always started as support/caster type classes), so that might help them out a bit.

[Captain Vegetable]

(all the guns are named after Vincent stuff!!!!)

From what I can see, there's a lot of this kind of stuff going on. Onion Sword, Buster Sword, Hard Edge, etc.

I just won the first Totema battle, and I have a few things to say about them.

I'd like to begin by saying I like the concept of race exclusive summons. It's neat.

Second, I think they're balanced perfectly. You cannot use them to death, like some other Final Fantasy titles (*cough*VIII & X*cough*), but when you do, you nearly garaunteed an instant victory.

They look neat, too.

[Kidnemo]

Second, I think they're balanced perfectly. You cannot use them to death, like some other Final Fantasy titles (*cough*VIII & X*cough*), but when you do, you nearly garaunteed an instant victory.

Difference in FFTA they are actually good.

In FF8 and FFX, there really wasn't any point in using the summons, because if you "built" your characters up correctly, the summons were very weak in comparison.

[Captain Vegetable]

Difference in FFTA they are actually good.

In FF8 and FFX, there really wasn't any point in using the summons, because if you "built" your characters up correctly, the summons were very weak in comparison.

I agree. I'm one of those people who will use a summon spell every so often just to see what it looks like and be dazzeled by Square's visual-technical prowess, but not because they actually helped me any. I behaved the same way in FFVII and IX. Summons, in my mind, are a cop-out way of achieving victory. But with the Totemas I don't feel this way because of how fair they are. You can't use them every battle, so the game forces you to handle most Enguagements with straight-up fighting, and when you do, the cost is so great for the damage they wreak, I can't help but feel satisfied.

The cost is my greatest concern, because it's in games like VIII and X where it was basicly free to summon monsters that made it feel so cheap. Make me lose something to use a summon! Don't just sit them in my lap and go, "OK. Use them how you see fit! We won't even charge you any Magic Points!" That just sucks.

P.S. The Summons weren't usless in X . . . they made for excellent damage shields. Hastega with Tidus (or whoever), and on the last turn before the boss'/rediculously powerful enemy's, kick in Yuna and summon a monster. The summon will take all of the damage of the attack, leaving everyone else in perfect health.

[Kidnemo]

I said "very weak", not "useless".

Though in FFX, with the exception of the last battle, I didn't really even use the summons. Battle hardened Tidus, Wakka, and Lulu!!1112

[Captain Vegetable]

Are you joking?! I can understand Wakka, but Lulu was useless . . . almost as useless as a summon. Tidus, Auron, and Khimari. Khimari can get to be just as strong as Wakka, and his Overdrive was 100,000,000,000x more usefull.

[Kidnemo]

OMG KHIMARI WAS HORRIBLE!

I never ever used him. His sphere grid path was totally generic, he was the "red mage" of the game. Okay at a lot of stuff, not really excelling at anything.

For Lulu, you could get her doublecast/boost MP or whatever her magic boosting abilities were and totally clean up.

[FuryFox]

Hmm...I still have over 100 missions to go, but I could just finish the last mission and beat the game now. I wish the pacing/set-up were designed a bit better, like another small "final" map or something. There's another map-piece to place as well. Guess I'll just hang around, perfect my team and try to unlock everything.

I don't know if they do, but Ritz nor Shara have joined my party yet...does anyone know about the secret characters? Some say you just have to do a mission with a certain item equipped, others list many more specifics?

Also...all this FFTA has really proven how un-ergonomic the SP is *rubs poor fingers* *wishes he had a 'Cube w/ Gameboy player*

[Captain Vegetable]

OMG KHIMARI WAS HORRIBLE!

I never ever used him. His sphere grid path was totally generic, he was the "red mage" of the game. Okay at a lot of stuff, not really excelling at anything.

For Lulu, you could get her doublecast/boost MP or whatever her magic boosting abilities were and totally clean up.

I didn't like Khimari either, and his track does suck . . . which is why I hopped him on over to Auron's track with a Teleport Sphere. But outside of this, Wakka was an annoying character. He had his endearing moments, but generally he was more annoying than Selphie or Rikku could ever have hoped to have been.

Also...all this FFTA has really proven how un-ergonomic the SP is *rubs poor fingers* *wishes he had a 'Cube w/ Gameboy player*

I'm not a fan of it's design, either, but at least we don't have to unscrew the battery pack each time we want to play a new game.

*RIMSHOT!*

[burgundy]

Hmm...I still have over 100 missions to go, but I could just finish the last mission and beat the game now. I wish the pacing/set-up were designed a bit better, like another small "final" map or something. There's another map-piece to place as well. Guess I'll just hang around, perfect my team and try to unlock everything.

I don't know if they do, but Ritz nor Shara have joined my party yet...does anyone know about the secret characters? Some say you just have to do a mission with a certain item equipped, others list many more specifics?

Go ahead and beat the final map. You'll get to save after the ending and keep playing, plus many of the missions don't open up (including the ones you need for Ritz, Shara et al to join up) until you see the credits roll.

I've read that there's a super-secret recruitable character that only joins up after you complete all 300 missions.