SCREENSHOT Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The endgame

[Water Mage]

To be fair both classes are good, but the other class

Parivir

just deals insane amount of damage with the elemental blades. Have you ever tried those attacks?

[Parrhesia]

[spoiler=Update 18]

Lawrn's Pyrotechnique Artes and High Sciences, Chapter the Ninth

Ah, the Targ Woods! Where my career as the greatest wizard known to the world began.

LESSONS - CHEMISTRY

Ex. 1: Chemistry of Sword

Pretty swords are better swords.

Pretty and better swords may or may not be liable to exploding under duress. In my view, this only improves the sword, but mine is not a popular opinion in the 'hallowed' halls of the Academy. Pah!

Strangely, after all the exciting talk of exploding swords, our feeble leader Guinness saw a petition for this mysterious 'Fayk' hiding out in the Galerria Deep. He was dubious, but I saw through the deception immediately and realised that this was the Exploding Swordsman himself! We needed it.

Why is Guinness the or a leader? Should I not be leader?

Ex. B: Chemistry of Meat

A moronic trapper had set spike traps for faeries.

Faeries have wings.

My companions, however, do not, and I relished the opportunity to see how they would explode as the steel hit their vulnerable underbellies.

Torch immediately saw fit to break the law by dealing a grotesque damage on the faerie. This is well, as the squad anticipates an easy fight. I have been provided with an accurate map of the traps and have been trusted to make certain they do not step on them, for easy disarmament later.

They assume that I have their best interests in mind, rather than the best interests of science. Seeq, for instance, have enough excess flesh that a standard spike trap will manage to sink each spear into meat. Seeq are the opposite of faeries on the scale of being spikable.

Irritatingly, Wolfe insists on clearing out the alleged opposition before my science can continue. I ignore him, even when he turns gold and shouts enough to destroy two fey.

Seeq, while trying to dislodge the spikes from their bountiful meat, may then prove unsuspecting when the assault of a sky rock presents itself.

I convinced Yvet to go for the chest, directly into the third of the traps. It was then that Wolfe snatched the map off me and shoved me forward, where Torch was waiting to give his own directions.

To pain.

Elm, speaking for us all apart from the insolently unharmed humans and bangaa.

Ex. III: The Chemistry of More Fire

I convinced the party to take a detour to the Aldanna Range, where the mists are strongest.

They have learned, by and large, to follow my lead. Guinness has taken to calling it Pavlovian Lawrning. I am certain that this Pavlovia was an amateur.

Wolfe was puzzled when what he believed to be a metaphor was, in fact, the actual case. I mocked him and he berated me.

My science lesson suffered...

... setbacks.

In fact, had the fightmules been intelligent enough to have magic of their own, so would theirs.

I did as best as I could to emulate the brainless, shambling fightmules, consoling myself that at least I was getting some use from my unstoppable firestick.

And at least I would not be alone in my silence.

Or perhaps I would, as Ursla felled it with a close-range volley, boasting of her melee archery skills. Oh, the miserable simpletons I journey with!

In my peripheral vision, the cat exploded. I did not care. I needed to focus on regaining my voice.

And it was glorious.

And there needed to be more.

The opportunity arose later that day, as we finally tracked down a man's lost pet.

Ursla suggested committing violence against it and killing its friends, a unique solution would have that won her more favour with Yvet had she been there.

The cat began this where she left off.

Ursla had little patience for the pet, shooting it in the spine, twice.

This did not stop it almost killing the cat, who retaliated by almost killing the pet. We left them to bleed together.

At least, this was my desire, as the fightmules left me there. Wolfe designated me a 'chew toy'. I loathe the unscrupulous Wolfe.

The fightmules accomplished the task while I seethed. But I knew that when the lawless Cid was back, I would be permitted to flourish.

Next on FFTA2

It's time. Fuck me, it's time.

[Dandragon]

God its the antlion NO

[Water Mage]

The Viera from the Clan of Worms seems to be the merciless sort.

Come on, the Pit Monster isn't that bad...who I am kidding, it is that bad.

Especially this early in the game.

[Alastor15243]

Ah, shame. I was kinda hoping Rodanu would turn out to be my build, but it seems like you have other plans for him.

Also, I think I missed somewhere, who exactly is the narrator now?

Edited October 15, 2016 by Alastor15243

[Parrhesia]

It's been changing every chapter - Ursla's journal, Rodanu's memoirs, Wolfe's reports, Caul's notebook and Lawrn's thesis. Story updates will be from my third-person perspective.

[Alastor15243]

Huh. Weird. For whatever reason I didn't see those titles at the top.

[Parrhesia]

[spoiler=Update 20]

Hello, people! Today you are getting me, Parrhesia, as it's a plot mission tonight.
It's not this one.


It's this one!
We're doing all three today because one quest is a bit lean for an update and they're all in Galerria.


I know, I know. Shocking.


This map is about collecting all four potions on the ground, and that's handy because fighting this thing might be a tough proposition. That attack is more than any of us have - it's as much attack as Torch or Caul with the Cheaty Armour We Shouldn't Have has defence.



Komodo Guy has celebrated our victory last time around by becoming American.





Bangaa are hearty Scots, humans are bitchy, viera are smug - they are the only squad leaders worth bringing.


They're tough, but kind of... you know... fire. Fire obsoletes them, and I brought Lawrn along.


Rodanu gets hit by the ground from ages away. I need a beastmaster at some point, he's still bluemagicless.


All the headless cyclops does is run away and flex when we kill all his friends. (Well, okay, there's still an ice drake off to the side, but this map's all but done.)



Fuck off, Rodanu.


These potions are all either opened or mostly empty (and thus probably empty). This was meant to be the last one but it was actually the third-last because yellow doesn't pop out against white very well.




Place your bets.
But, it's time.



this
is
gonna
suck



should've bought two windslash bows.
should've bought two windslash bows.
should've bought two windslash bows.
FUCK.
It begins. Wolfe and Ursla will bombard it with arrows, Nofilia will support. Adele comes by default but can be removed but she comes anyway because, fuck it. I need some beef and that beef will be Caul.


Yes, it's called a 'yowie', or, if you prefer, our worst nightmare.


Caul will give him something to chew on.


Despite the best efforts of the antlions to vomit on Adele, she'll take some time and effort to take down, too.
The law, by the way, is that nu mou can't take (non-Attack) actions.


I fail to get a good screencap of the yowie's first attack, which is to decide that everyone on my team takes 50 damage. Caul evades.


Ah.
As soon as one antlion goes down another takes its place so I guess we'll be all about attacking the big guy now.
Anyway, Adele's fairly beaten up. I heal her a bit with Nofi, reasoning that putting her in the weak multi-target heal is more useful than the moderate single-target heal.


Oh fuck off.




So it just ate Adele.


Plan B: More DPS. Handle it!


That's not what I meant, Caul!


My cunning plan works to a tee - Argo fucks off, allowing us to continue blindly pummelling the biglion.



Draw In is by far its favourite attack.


Guinness is next up. That's fine - his defence got crippled by antlion vomit, and it's more time for our archers to continue raining down the big hits.


I'm confident enough to kill Argo.


Somewhat unfairly, the replacement is an upgrade of higher level who also moves instantly. Nofi's been slowed so she's done fuck-all.


Nofi's next for the chop, anyway. All bosses, incidentally, are represented by teeth.


But it's okay.
We would be so, so, so, so fucked without Ursla, but it's okay.


Good fucking night.


In fucking disputable.







Wolfe, meanwhile, is carving a hats out of the antlion. He will give another one to Ursla.








The power of friendship makes itself known.


Maybe you could've fought monsters better during the monster fight that just happened, then.







Heartwarming stuff.





Fitting end to the toughest mission in the entire fucking game. Now, time to get back ho-

[eclipse]

I'm enjoying the many voices of your group. When will it be Elm's turn?

[Parrhesia]

[spoiler=Update 20]

Oh, good.

It's you.

Were you such a great thief, you'd steal the chest that's right fucking there.

Adele and Guinness may have been stranded here, but Wolfe and Caul came when called and dragged Lawrn from standby and Rodanu from mascot duty.

My thoughts exactly, Dayvis.

Good. Let them.

Also, there's unusually sombre music playing.

... You know, I don't think I ever noticed this my first time playing. But it's fine, Dayvis is a chump-

A chump with good evade. Caul kills him straight afterwards though and I'm surprised by it because there's no dialogue.

His squad is bad but we get unlucky with spike traps, so their archer (called, um, 'Yurhee') picks off Lawrn. Yeah, fuckin', Yurhee.

Adele, too. The named characters only have a single death line. Generics have like four? Five?

Rodanu staves off death another turn - Rush is a lovely little niche skill. Normal damage attack that knocks back.

bye rodanu

But just as things almost get dicey...

Oh, Nyme. Didn't you read the stories about the Langs?

Oh.

This is actually turning into kind of a slog.

Guinness gets an unnecessary Opportunity because those are the only kind that ever happen. He's happy about pulping Yurhee super-hard though. Anyway, he retreats with Wolfe, heals up to make sure.

the law was against self-targeting.

And so it comes down to this. Four badly-wounded idiots in a pit.

... Well, at least it didn't break the ch-

One idiot in a pit.

You earned it, Guinness. You fucking earned it.

After some dithering along the way, Kyrie has reached his final form. Templars are powerful swordsmen/spearmen who have an interesting set of perks, mostly defensive in nature. They have good stats but are agonisingly slow.

But it's okay - Cid's okay.

Aaand with all established to be okay, it's gossip time.

The power of friendship is like an addictive drug - starts out with pleasure, ends in pain and sometimes Ursla.

Cid, this isn't the time to be reasonable, this is the Fully Sick Gossip Hour.

Cid's done foreshadowing - it's time for Exciting Things that I think are due about now.

fluorgis fluorgis flu

FUCK

A dutiful lad.

And a pragmatic patient.

Next up on FFTA2:

You know the drill.

[Parrhesia]

.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Parrhesia

[Parrhesia]

[spoiler=Update 21]

Kyrie's Quest - the Return

Ghostwritten by M. Seeq Templeton

More news. It was of no import, until it turned into petitions requesting our name, the name of the Clan of Worms!

If this was the thief, then I would destroy it myself.

But there were concerns both abroad...

... and domestic, to deal with. Graszton was our turf now, their concerns our concerns. My dabbling with priesthood had been enlightening, but had left me rusty - I needed a challenge!

As I contemplated his earnest discussion of the placebo effect, pondered if they really were doing harm and absently prevented Adele from going up and buying one with her own money...

... they attacked.

I improvised a catchphrase and ordered the counteroffensive!

I may have misread their intentions. Their signals were mixed between murder and petty theft.

We, by contrast, had our sights set on murder.

They even tried to pilfer my pockets, but heroes never carry cash.

The line shatters easily, but I tired of such a trivial task and of questioning the nature of how far blind belief could sustain conspicuous consumption, of whether it could cause lasting harm, of consumer confidence, of-

Anyway, before I could finish my thesis on the subject, I found myself to the outskirts of Graszton, near a tree. I remembered this tree and that people of virtue and payment had made me vow to defend it, and thus I made others follow. When I saw the foes gathered around it, I declared;

And thus battle was joined.

Torch lead the eastern strikeforce, now in the garb of a gladiator, a ferocious melee fighter (as he always had been). Some of that discipline had been known to use elementally-infused blades but Torch only described the occupation in cryptic terms, as a 'stepping stone'.

Hopefully it will be a stepping stone to not being sneezed on by antlions.

Still, Torch had his side and we had ours. We held the line.

Despite their ability to vomit, spit, sneeze and throw natural disasters at us.

And their overwhelming numbers.

I had a spear. Lawrn softened them up, I finished them off. Guinness was our dutiful, blind anvil. I was blind as well, but I wore it better.

I could see some things, of course - but not the eastern fireteam. I am certain they performed spectacularly in our absence, however!

Guinness, heroically, lead and meatshielded by example. Someone to look up to.

Rodanu told me he finished the last of them off, and Yvet reluctantly provided a first-hand witness account.

I may have had to retain my gruff demeanour for the sake of appearances... but it was a reminder that there are some things in this world worth protecting.

And I felt, just a little, as though we'd crossed some kind of landmark...

Our visit to the Bangaa Brotherhood was highly enlightening. Not least for the two seeq beating a rock into submission, who Elm watched admiringly for close to an hour.

Second, for the idea of perhaps having an artilleryman of our own to use someday...

Neither Torch nor myself wished to take up the cannon personally... but it was certainly something we wished to see in action.

Gren, after a time banished in the reserves for aiding and abetting the enemy with infernal contraptions, finally came out to see the rest of us. He asked me what would happen if he walked into the centre of Moorabella and yelled "Cut, kupo!" Would the magi drop what they were doing and wait for the next order?

I worry for Gren. I do not know where he ends and the juggler begins.

He would soon get his chance to be pointed in the right direction.

Ursla struck first, though, with war crimes.

And Gren, evidently, had figured out how to pull the right things out of the bag.

Their attacks were ineffectual against me, possibly through choice.

Sadly, Gren's new debut was cut prematurely.

It was a gruelling fight, but we began to take the upper hand... helped by the slow decay of their leader and the inability of their sluggish juggernaut to run.

And the ineffectiveness of their thief.

Well... mostly ineffectiveness.

But Ursla had it well in hand.

As the juggernaut approached, Wolfe - crippled beyond recognition by their leader - revived Nofilia 'for expediency'.

He had a point.

By the time the juggernaut made his appearance, his friends were all dead.

And then Nofilia ensured he would not so much as swing a sword in anger.

Then things just felt cruel.

Eventually, the poison did him in.

We returned to Camoa to lick our wounds and continue to find weapons.

But our rest was interrupted by reports of something truly unsettling near the city...

Next up on KYRIE'S QUEST!;

[Dandragon]

Thats a lot of big words. Too many syllables. APOLOGIZE.

Also is that a jumplar? No wait Torch was the dragoon...

[Parrhesia]

Kyrie is Templar with a side of Monk. Torch is the dragoon with other plans - I'm not fussed about him having Jump all the time because Jump was given double damage/half accuracy in A2 and I hate things with half accuracy.

[Parrhesia]

There is a poll now!

[spoiler=Update 22]






I do not consider myself a fighter.
I do not consider myself a leader of men.
I'm just a healer.
They tell me to sit back and train. Learn from watching, not doing. The doing will come later.


It is a warlike group I have fallen in with, the Clan of Worms that has come to prominence for its prowess in the auction halls. The Clan brought down Dayvis and the Veluga Pirates, the Camoa Braves. I think I am joining an exalted group, but some of them make me question.





They call themselves 'problem solvers'. They are willing to get their hands dirty to solve problems, and I can respect that.





Still, I'd like to see some of these problems for myself. I am sure that they needn't all turn to bloodshed.


Their methods are... unorthodox. They tell me they are effective.


Flintlocks are the moogle cannonneers. They need to prime their guns before they can do any of their skills, maybe also to attack, though attacking doesn't unprime the gun.




But that doesn't account for the shards of lead and infected magical wounds I've had to tend.


(I did not ask why 'Torch' smells of burned fur, I did not want to know.)


Wolfe told me it felt like the moogles were 'toying' with them, like it was some kind of game to them.


Until one of their own fell. And did not get back up.


At some stage during the fight, Gren did something, but Wolfe will not tell me what. He only shudders. Who hurt him?






But, eventually... the joke wore off for the musketmen.







Reason prevailed, thank the gods. But I wish I had been there from the start. Maybe it could have been resolved peacefully.


Upon our return to Camoa, Wolfe wept with joy. Apparently a long-standing order he'd made had finally come through, and all we needed were the funds to acquire it.


This was easier said than done. A small detachment progressed to Baptiste, with myself in tow.


This aggrieved Ursla and Wolfe, who both desired to take the head of a beast for their own - but the law had other ideas. It would be Torch, Guinness - according to Wolfe, the organisation's notional third-in-command, behind Cid and Nofilia - and Elm, the seeq warrior, ready to engage hand-to-hand with the foe.


It was... terrible, to behold. A great beast, sharp-taloned and axebeaked.

I was just grateful that it would not be able to fly, its weak prehensile wings surely unable to bear its grotesque bulk.



But there were eight arrayed in battle. And there was just one bird. Surely, this would be easy.





Begrudgingly, we agreed to House Bowen's rash request to take the fight to Klesta.




But all did not seem well. We stood back and let them take the attack, but we were ready to step in at a moment's notice.



A nice touch here. Veis' quest to join House Bowen unlocks at the same time as (maybe after) this quest, Throw Down, does. And there's a House Bowen subplot, we'll meet them a few more times down the road. Veis appears in their ranks, but only if you've done the Assassin quest first, which is, well, why we did it first. Not that she's remotely useful. Here she is, vanishing and then immediately breaking it with attacks.

While I'm on the subject, Tweigel is even worse. There's an ability that allows you to cast from HP instead of MP - Tweigel's an illusionist. So he opens the fight hitting a single target for weak damage, can cast it twice before he just runs out of blood.




Veis was repulsed almost immediately by the creature.






'Klesta', as they called it, was too strong for them... but they charged on regardless, Bowen in particular practically burning up with his own rage.


Torch had had enough.



So had Klesta.


Loa was down.
Bowen was on his last legs.
Torch waved Elm forward. Where was Veis? Tweigel, bereft of magic, dragged Loa's body to safety, where I could tend to her. This had become desperate.




Bowen... stayed on his feet. Fuelled by hatred alone, perhaps. Elm and Torch fought on, heedless.

I heard a screech. Scrambled for cover. Got away in time.


Tweigel didn't.


But... we brought the beast down.
No, I am no hero. They are. They did.


But it just...



Rose. And flew away, somehow, through some perverse miracle of nature.





Bowen looked as though he was going to say something more, but...








After Bowen absconded without so much as staying for me to tend his wounds, we broke camp for the night. Friese, Twiegel told us, was a famous headhunter in Jylland, an associate of House Bowen. She was there when last they'd clashed with Klesta, a bitter, hard fight. Klesta fled, but while the others lay battered and broken, Friese still had a second wind, so Bowen sent her to chase the bird off and finish her.





We were taken aback. Even Elm looked affected, but it all made sense. The selfless, self-destructive ferocity with which he fought, but his reluctance to finish the job... but then what was the point in the fight? If Klesta was just going to run, and run...

The cycle needed to be ended.







We parted ways. But Bowen had not returned.

[Dandragon]

And so the tragic tale of house Bowen has been told. What was the rating of this game again?

[ping]

There's only one right answer to that poll.

By the way, does invisibility wear off after any kind of action? If it allowed healing or buffing without breaking, it might be useful on such a unit, but if it only lasts until the next turn (which I always thought it would), it's a really crappy spell. :/

[Parrhesia]

I don't honestly know. All Veis ever does is Vanish and then immediately break it, and it's a Sniper skill so it's unlikely to be used for anything more subtle.

... I mean, Elm also has Camouflage because he went on a mission as a Ranger, but he's Elm.

[Parrhesia]

[spoiler=Update 23-1]

Unbelievable.

We thought we'd found Bowen's tracks, heading the road north to Moorabella. Figured we'd follow. But here we stand, confronted by the beast. We left Loa gravely wounded, Twiegel the same, we can't even be certain Bowen's still alive. Torch... not fit to fight, despite his protests. I command him to the rear.

I grip my staff.

But we are not going to fall today.

But

wait, no,

the same glare in his eyes, more fervent than even before, he will kill here or die himself and he's bleeding, still, and are they ready for this?

Twiegel shares my doubts but Elm is ready and Guinness has blade drawn and

some madness overtakes me and we fight, despite everything

but it strengthens and twiegel's magic fizzles and veis shoots him in error

and then it's pain

and with so much to do and so little I can do I strive

but they pick up their swords and keep going and I must follow

and i-

can't

see

blur

all's faint

but I'm

alive, body refuses to go that final step into a death I know I deserve, can feel myself rising but falling bound by a Law and I do not know why it does this and for fleeting seconds it all seems to leave me I welcome death at my door and it refuses to open and

it all...

comes back, into focus, and Klesta rises.

and I climb to my broken feet and we walk again.

[Parrhesia]

[spoiler=Update 23-2]

I understand now.

I can still help people, but now I know why these bloody hands are needed and how I can join them and why I have to join them.

Upon our return to Camoa to lick our wounds, a petition screams out to us. I volunteer to lead.

It takes some emergency fund-raising and a whip-round for our spare equipment, but it works out. Wolfe and Ursla volunteer to go with me.

Wolfe has a kind heart beneath his facade. Ursla seethed, arrow nocked. Our best archers stood ready to take the beast down, and I felt an immense surge of pride to be by their side.

The beast struck while he was distracted, but he kept standing, bleeding head to toe.

Ursla scoffed, said we should leave him to the vultures and make the best of the time with volleys, but ...

As we bickered, we heard footsteps behind us.

We struck.

Bowen lead the charge, his house lay in support as Wolfe and Ursla bombarded Klesta with arrows.

And I helped, in whatever modest way I could.

But it was stronger than before.

And more craven.

This time would be different.

We did.

And it swung our way, with its wings-

Dimly, through the pain, I felt it fall.

We live an imperfect world. Mercenaries crawl the roads, looking for their next contract. This encourages people to solve their problems through violence.

Many of the mercenaries encourage this, too. The likes of the Braves, or Yellow Wings, they're only in it for the money that can be earned.

But we can do better. We can be better, like this world deserves. Root out the corrupt, overpower the darkness and bring forward a light. Treat our contractors with honour and strive to find peaceful resolution. Be fair and just.

And maybe we can make the world better for our presence. Maybe I can.

We have stopped a tragedy here.

And it will not be the last.

Next up on FFTA2:

oops

[Dandragon]

And so the tale of Bowen was also the tale of Nathala. This was an interesting twist on things and I enjoy it greatly. I do hope to see something like again. It's also nice to see a slightly more competent black mage, if by more competent i mean "faster than a Nu Mou". But I'm curious if you are planning to use a Sage at all.

[Laura]

neither should be an option tbh

[eclipse]

Who is this "Nathala", and why does he sound more competent than the rest of your party combined?

[Water Mage]

Nathala seems to be sole voice of reason in the Clan of Worms...which makes me wonder if he did the right choice in joining them in the first place.

[Parrhesia]

nathalas a girl

And so the tale of Bowen was also the tale of Nathala. This was an interesting twist on things and I enjoy it greatly. I do hope to see something like again. It's also nice to see a slightly more competent black mage, if by more competent i mean "faster than a Nu Mou". But I'm curious if you are planning to use a Sage at all.

Glad to hear the experiment worked out. As for a sage... proooobably not? I've only budgeted for two mou (fully-accredited, anyway) and the non-Lawrn one will probably be a Scholar/Alchemist. I dunno, sages don't hugely appeal to me but if the thread Really Wants A Sage I'd be okay giving it a sage. But it's pointless running through them, they're basically all just kind of tricky support magi (sages have a bit more thwack to them).