Final Fantasy: The Adventures of Clan #42 (Tactics Advance 2)

We open up to Lief and Cid chilling in the pub, when they overhear something. The cutscene before "A Paw Full of Feathers" is the last time we'll ever be seeing any generic clan members in cutscenes, by the by.


: Several merchant caravans reported attacks between here and Camoa.
: Purely profit seekers, I hear. They let those who offer up the goods and gil go free.
(How nice of them. Sorta. Ish. Eh.)
: Little good it does us without two coins to rub together.
: *shakes head* And that's the only highroad out of this place.
(C'mon guys, you're an illusionist, blue mage, and a hunter. You should be able to take them, unless the illusionist was stupid and forgot to learn any of his magicks.)

: Why's that?
*whump*
: I had a mind to take that highroad to Camoa. I'm tired of scratching around in the dirt here for scraps of information.
: If there are bandits on the road, why not bring 'em in? We can teach them a lesson and open the road...two birds with one stone.
: It'll take more then a stone to put their lot in their place, but I don't see we as have a choice.
: Hey, maybe someone's posted a reward for getting rid of them in the pub, too! Better get there quick before someone else has the same idea!

: While I'm away, you'll have to quest without me...but I'm sure it's nothing you can't handle. Don't worry, I'll come back if you need me for anything important. Be safe.

This is basically the justification for Cid only turning up for story battles. I'm...not going to do those, as we can quest for some stuff.


This is the only quest we can accept right now, however, as the other non-story quest requires an item we don't have. The second one starts a quest chain, however, that leads to some pretty cool stuff.


We then get some new stuff for Fidona, who is now a Fencer. They do various Fencing stuff, but I'm more interesting in what they unlock: Red Mage.

Alas, the shop has no rapiers (what 90% of viera jobs equip) that teach abilities, so Red Mage is out of my grasp...for now.


: Those have to be the ones we're after. Sounds like they're chanting a spell.
Um, hey! What exactly are you doing over there!
*whump*
: Green Dominion, heed us.
Njrg, njrg. Grant us your power.
...Njrg?
(How do your pronounce that?)

: How close we were to divining a new magick...
(y'know, you can divine new magicks by equipping weapons. Then again, the shop currently doesn't sell equipment that teaches Green Mages abilities, so...)
: You will pay the price for disrupting these rites!
Great job, Lief, you made them attack us! Then again, fighting quests give more AP then non-fighting quests, so...eh.


Lief comments that they should've expected it, chanting some creepy magick in the middle of the woods. So we fight!


All of them are named Miss Midorikawa, despite them being garbed in purple.

Anyway, in battle, Green Mages buff their allies and debilitate their foes. They don't actually have any attacks in their spell list, so they gotta use their staves to attack. They have the third-highest attack rating of any mage (after the Blue and Red Mages, at a "E" rating...yeah...). They also are pretty quick, second only in her speed rating to an Assassin. For those not in the know, that is pretty damn fast.


Alas, this group prefers to stick in the formation magick is cast in. It makes buffing themselves at once easier. It also makes hitting them easier.


This is a rough example of their physicals: 4-8 damage. Remember, she's attacking Lief from the back, which would increase her damage. That is how much Green Mages suck at attacking.


Random fact: moogles and nu mou cannot swim.


She's swinging better stuff then the other Midoris. Remember, Cor


Coryn here has been inflicted with Blind. This causes him to suffer a penalty to his accuracy (29%, I believe). It's not such a massive problem as it was in FFTA, where being Blinded basically meant be healed or wait until it wears off, 'cause you're useless until then.


From the chest, Fidona procures an Ether! Those types of chests can only have their goods procured once. Ever.

There are also actual chests that can be yoinked once per battle, but they usually contain shit.


Anyway, after Coryn beats the everloving shit out of her, the head Miss Midori apologizes and lets us (read: Vieras) use Green Mage! 



How much of an MVP you are determines how effective you are when dispatched. I'd prefer if it gave a small bonus to stats or something, because a) it's counterproductive (you'd want your MVP to help you on the battlefield - it's like if the Cardinals traded David Freeze or whoever) and b) it's useless on units like Lief, as they can't be sent on dispatch missions.

We also get a Barong (greatsword), iron helmet, and eye drops (cures blind) because we didn't break an impossible-to-break law.



Rubay mastered Steal Gil. Alas, there's no more thief abilities to be learned at the current time, nor any Animist (animal-related abilities) abilities to be learned. (Moogles can use Black Mage, but I have two already, so.)

We also have nothing else to give to the bazaar so we can actually use Green Mage, or whatever we need for that quest. ._. So, next time: we beat up the Yellow Wings (who, ironically enough, lack chocobos)!

The bill for the next story mission.


Located riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight here.


Something I thought of just now: perhaps the game designers (or plot writers or whoever) are poking fun at tollbooths?


Tell 'em, Lief! this seems semi-less awkward when I'm not calling myself Lief


: How about your lives? Don't tell me you've not heard of our band, the Yellow Wings!
(that's a unique word usage thing)
: Ring any bells, Cid?
: *scratches his head* Not a one.
: Fools!
Hand over the coin, or we'll extract a higher price...in blood!
(semi-ironically maybe, but the Blood Price ability makes you use your HP instead of MP and the HP cost is twice as much as the MP cost)
: Not that you look like you have more then a pint in you, runt.

The battle theme kicks in!

: Why don't we show these guys who rules the road, huh, Cid?

This is less of a problem then fire not being used, because Blizzard isn't at the top of the ability list.


The battle begins!


Ha, Rubay has 4 more MP then you do! Suck it, Kidd! that is his name, really


Anyway, Steal Gil, as a surprise to nobody, steals gil. In Tactics Advance, the amount of gil stolen is shown as damage. Because there wasn't an option to see what ability they were using/what the ability does in that game, I remember going "oh shit, that's way more damage then I can take! I'm gonna die!  " then when I realized it was Steal Gil, I was like "oh '_' " because they threw gil at you in that game.


Rubay continues to show him being one of the team's MVPs by not letting the coinage be stolen.


100% Wool is an animist ability which I would like to have. Not for its effects, no (Protect+Shell), but because it allows Rubay to be a knight or a gun wielder or a gun knight.


See, this Cid is the best Cid. Not only is he one of the few Cids to actually fight with you (I believe FFVII's Cid is the only other one; this is off the top of my head, mind you ((this does not include FFTA's Cid, who only joins up with you in the post-game))), he is freaking awesome at doing so. That is a little more then a third of this guy's health.

Plus he's a freaking Spanish cat man using the jobs of a lizard warrior guy race. If that's not cool, I don't know what is.


...eh? What the -


You cheater! You're not supposed to use ice spells! yes that screenshot was horribly fudged


Actually, the judge rules specifically apply only to our team. Our clan is judged. Thus, we get a judge. Pretty useful, except it causes a few plot holes. Eh, better then just slapping law invincibility on anything resembling a boss and therefore making it exempt from the entire law thing.


...
rubay
did
did you just
knock a fucking bangaa into Cid
 

Rubay is awesome.
although that critical hit was the only reason why he managed to KO the bangaa as the preview screen predicted it just dealing 21 damage but still

We get a wing of the fey creatures for KOing that bangaa.


Jesus christ, game, I know she's Focused, but 6*6 damage for an archer is just too much when she's facing a Fencer.


See? My guy's doing 16 less on a mage (14 defense difference!) and he, too, is focused. They also have the exact same attack. What the hell?


As a note, Black Mages have an extreme resistance to their own spells. +10 Resistance per level, or so I'm told.
also, random fact: after the last attack done to her, Fidona is at exactly 1/4ths of her health. No prize for what I do to her.


Jesus they seem to hate Fidona for some reason. Can any of you guys think of as why? (Except for the archer. She's clearly jealous of Fidona's   ness.)


...
...what...
...what the CHRIST?! She's wielding a freaking rapier and attacking from the side! Even if she was a white mage before, that should be doing more damage!


You're seeing that right, folks. Kidd is passing up the change to finish off Fidona and is using a command that has failed twice in a row. Not that I'm complaining, of course - no one knows Raise, and Phoenix Downs cost money. Money which could be spent on equipment and thus abilities.




A quick one-two punch from Cid and Lief, and Kidd is down for the count, netting us a ball of moss.

...

...the fuck.


I...what?

Why is she not targeting Fidona?! Come on, Squeenix! You made Final Fantasy XIII have good AI! Couldn't you at least make the Yellow Wings able to decide to knock off those last few hit points?!


Ah, forget it...


Freaking finally!

...maybe I should've healed Fidona with Ihsan's turn.


: I mean, really, I thought they were just going to screw around all day.


And with a cry of defeat, our sexy viera fencer goes...somewhere. Perhaps the judge pulled her body into the ethereal void in which he resides?


Rubay responds by shanking the black mage who did the deed. Rock on, little dude. He manages to yoink a piece of danbunkwood before the black mage disappears. (and by that, I mean the black mage gives us a piece of danbunkwood as loot)


Due to the new reviving mechanics, instead of needing to target the KO'd unit's body, all you need to do is target an area without anyone on it. Presto, party member revived. It's actually very broken once you get the Phoenix summon, as you can revive your whole party at 100% health in one move. That is the power of the summoner.

And it's viera only. They get all the good classes. Probably bribed them out of the other races with their sexiness.


I mean, seriously. Why can't nu mou summon? They are more well-known for possessing great, magickal powers. They're the ones that have access to Black Mage. They're the ones that have an average magick gain of 8.6(repeating)*! They should be the ones who can summon magickal beings from the void!


They do have the ability to access summon monsters...but that's another matter entirely. Eh, forget it. We're almost done with this battle. I think I dragged it on longer then it should.


And with that, we're done. Finally.


Rewards include a glass bell (+25 attack, and lets animists learn 100% Wool and beastmasters Lamia), battle boots (+7 defense) and a hi-potion (item; restores 150 HP or something like that).


Importantly, Lief and Ihsan mastered the abilities they were learning!  This means Lief can now use Blue Mage, and Ihsan is a bit 2/3rds of the way to Sage! Also important is the glass bell; now Rubay can actually learn animist techniques and thus use the jobs animist unlocks!

As I noted, this update seems to be dragging on a bit. So until next time I can pull myself away from XII!

---

*For the curious, the average magick growths of humes is 7.230769(repeating), bangaa 7.1(even), viera 7.9(even), moogles 7.4(even), seeq 6.75(even), and gria 7(even). Remember, the average magick growth of the nu mou is 8.6(repeating). At least they gave the good magickal jobs to the race with the second-best average magick growth...

By using the loot we got in the redone battle, we get a few new weapons:

Rapiers are the signature weapon of the viera (the only non-viera classes that can use them are classes that can equip everything ((which there are two of; one story character and a moogle class we've yet to unlock))). Swarmstrike reduces damage done, but can poison, and Thunder is, well, Thunder.


Speed Crush is an enhanced version of the Soldier/Warrior's Rend Speed skill; rather then just inflict the Speed Down, it damages and then inflicts Speed Down. Monkey Grip lets one hold a two-handed weapon with one hand (with no power reduction, yay!), letting you equip a shield. This is obviously useless on classes that can't equip shields.




"The swift rapier pierces the mail!" - Delita I think that's what he says

Featherblow reduces damage but always hits. This skill is more favorable in Tactics Advance because most evasion in that game is batshit crazy. In this game, while attacks have a base 99% chance to hit, evade is only a few points, if that. Boulder Crush deals earth damage and may inflict Don't Move Immobilize. The class that uses it I have never used, as Red Mages and Spellblades and that sort of stuff have attracted me more.



While not a new craft, sabers are the blue mage's signature weapon. The basic weapon is the only one with any sort of ability attached to it, Learn. It's what allows the Blue Mage to be a Blue Mage in the Tactics A games, as they're too stupid to have innate abilities (the closest we get is the Master Monk having a high unarmed attack, representing Brawler, which lets people fight unarmed and still kick ass).



In the pub, there's a new option available: clan trials. This allows us to upgrade our current clan privileges, get new ones, and upgrade those. And get new titles, which affect clan talents (basically the clan's stats; you can see them on the top screen) and buy/sell prices. I will use them all of four times: to get Bonus AP 2-3, to get a super-special-awesome title, and for a quest.

For what's in the notices section:

Pink and FluffyHeard about those fluffy pink flowers?
Seems like everybody wants one these days, eh?

I believe it was called prima petal, or the like.

Looks pretty, and makes all sorts of other things right pretty too. Quite popular with the lasses, I hear. Oh, they used to grow all over the place but now you'd be lucky to find one in season, at that.

That said, I hear they've been spotted at Targ Wood recently. Haven't seen 'em myself, though, so go at your own risk.

Notices usually either tip you off with information to start a quest/quest chain or give you tips. Sometimes they're just for flavor, but it still pays to look at all notices. Targ Wood is where we currently are, by the by.

As for quests:

Foodstuffs: Texture starts off a quest chain; Kyrra, Dragoon lets us unlock a bangaa job; and we still can't do The First Step. Doing Reagent Run will let us, however, so we'll sign up for them three quests.

Foodstuffs:

Kyrra, Dragoon:

Reagent Run:

Skip the spoilers if you don't feel like reading them. The main point is this:

The First Step bill wrote:I will trade my Ocktor Tome of medicine for your cactus fruit! We will do the trade in Targ Wood.
 Mack, White Mage

It's in quotes instead of showing the image because it's being a jerk.


: I will exchange it for this book of medickal knowledge.
: That book looks like a really nice book. Are you sure you want to trade it for this? I'd think you'd be able to find a cactus fruit in the market or somewhere...?
: No. I have committed everything in this book to memory, you see. But the cactus fruit I require to treat a boy who lies seriously ill as we speak. Please, the fruit.

 Cactus Fruit traded.

The Ocktor Tome of Medicine received.

Clan notes updated!

: Thank you. I could not stay away from my clinic for long. With this, I should be able to concoct a salve for the boy.

So we completed the quest, got 30 AP, 6 CP, and some loot.

Should we peer into our clan notes, we find a history of the book instead of the book itself. I guess SE didn't want to help doctors or something.

Loot results:

Anyway, that's it for now. Next time: story!