Strategies ; Being Tactical About It
Final Fantasy Tactics is obviously a tactical game, so I thought I'd include a few personal contributions to aid in your quest for the perfect FFT save... (this should be exciting, if you're as much of a loser as I am, ahah!) So then, on to the strategies...
How to steal all of Elmdor's Genji equipment
This is probably the hardest battle in the game, if you actually want to be successful in stealing all of Elmdor's crap, in addition to getting Ultima cast on (and learned by) Ramza.
Honestly, this battle takes a lot of luck and a certain level of skill... but more luck, hahaha. It took me an entire day to successfully get everything, and it was by damn luck. (Mainly because I had saved and not realized that the Limberry Castle battle was coming up...) So, this is my method on how to win.
Here are the most annoying things you'll encounter -- the assassins' stop/death ability. They can stop you (which is really hard to overcome when they're kicking everyone else's asses), and Elmdor does a damn Blood Suck on anyone he can get... so basically, you get a team of stopped, dead, or charmed zombies. Sounds fun, right?
What can you get out of this difficult battle? Some of the rarest equipment out of the entire game... the GENJI EQUIPMENT! :] This includes Elmdor's Masamune, Genji Shield, Genji Helmet, Genji Armor, and Genji Gauntlet. These are all one of a kind, and you can't get them anywhere else... so if you want a 'perfect' save, you're going to want to take the time to win this battle.
Now, I'm going to assume that your characters aren't crazy good and that you haven't gotten your hands on a ribbon or anything yet. You'll want your team to have more females than males to avoid the charm technique used by the assassins. (My team was Ramza, Reis, Beowulf, Agrias, and a generic female character.) Items needed are Chantage and Barette -- they help immensely in this battle. You'll also need 108 Gems to stop Elmdor's annoying Blood Suck... also, make sure you have a ton of Phoenix Downs and Holy Waters (especially Holy Waters... eeesh).
Keep Ramza as a squire, so you can learn Ultima (if you haven't already), and set his secondary skill as Steal, along with 108 Gems as his accessory. Keep Beowulf a Temple Knight with 108 Gems (since you really need his Chicken ability) and the Item command for his secondary skill. Reis is great as a ninja with Item as the secondary ability... same with Agrias (but as a Holy Knight)... and the generic character (in my case) was a female thief, with the item command (and throw item attached). I also made sure she had 108 Gems on her, too, so she was never turned into a zombie.
So, on to the battle -- you'll want to always keep your characters as far apart from each other as possible (but close enough to get healed with items if needed). If you stay too close together, Elmdor can cast some major damage via his Sword Spirit technique. Get rid of the assassins first because they do the most critical damage... once you kill them, they become Ultima Demons but are nothing compared to their former counterparts.
Speed is very important in this battle, too, so make sure to use quick characters... (particularly the ninja class). Have Ramza constantly use his "Yell" command while waiting for Elmdor to get closer in range -- (he has Teleport2, so he can go anywhere around the map). Cast "Chicken" on Elmdor with Beowulf's Magic Sword ability to increase your success rate for stealing. After that, keep on trying to steal... it's probably gonna take you an hour and a couple of billion tries, hahaha. Good luck!
How To Get Duplicate Weapons
This is a bug that you can take advantage of (very easily). I've only used it to duplicate Samurai swords (because you know swords break when using Draw Out), so... I duplicated Masamune and Chirijiraden.
Anyway, all you do is take your weapon of choice and stick it in your left hand. (It also has to be the 'best' weapon in your inventory -- otherwise, it won't work.) Put the shield in your right hand, go to the shop, and pick the 'try it on' (fitting room) option. Find another weapon (that isn't as powerful as the one you want to duplicate), and put it in the hand holding the shield. Then, just pick the 'best fit' option, exit the screen, and voila... you'll have an extra copy of the item!
How to get ALL abilities from a crystal
Ah, my favorite "cheat," if you will. I love this one because I don't really feel like I'm cheating... I'm just, er, taking 'advantage' of a bug in the game. :] If an enemy (or a teammate) dies, and they turn into a crystal, all you have to do to learn all of their abilities is pick the last ability on the list... pretty simple, isn't it? Bwahahha, what an easy, effective strategy... (or cheat-tactic, whatever!)
Do the zodiac signs have any kind of effect on things?
Yes, as meticulous as that may seem to the mechanics of a battle... it's true! You know how a scorpio and sagittarius should never get together? Sort of works the same way in Tactics... so let's say that you're the opposite zodiac sign of another unit, as well as the opposite sex, then you're going to achieve maximum results. (This is in accordance with things like Praise/Preach, Raise, etc.) But funnily enough, if you're the opposite zodiac sign and the same sex, it'll give you the worst results. *shrug*
I still don't understand the zodiac compatibility like the back of my hand because I don't care about the specifics of battle that much... but if you do, you can read an excellent guide on it at GameFAQs; they have everything there. :]
How to get an unstoppable character
This is a combination that makes your team virtually unbeatable. Remember that slow, weak character called the Calculator? I know, probably the most seemingly useless character of the bunch... but ah, quite the contrary. The calculator is the most powerful job class... well, at least the abilities that come with it are. You should master the calculator skill and set it as a secondary skill to... what job class? The Samurai...!
With Samurai's Draw Out ability, you're able to heal characters, cast haste, protect, shell, attack enemies... and all with no wait-time. So, you've got the strength of the samurai, as well as the armor to accompany it (and boost HP). Then on top of that, you've got the calculator skill... and if you're well-versed in magic, you can pretty much cure anyone or kick anyone's ass in a single turn. You can run to the edge of the battle screen, hide from everybody, yet nobody is safe from you.
The only problem with this is... it's too easy. :] I killed the final boss with this technique before it could even take one turn. :D
How high or low should my Brave/Faith be?
It depends on what you want your character to be capable of. First things first -- your brave and faith levels are on levels that range from 0-100. You never want your brave to be lower than 6 when the battle is over because your character will basically be too chicken to ever want to fight again and will leave your party as a result. As for your faith level, never let it get above 94 because your character will leave after the battle, wanting to serve the Church.
So, we need an equal balance, don't we? A good rule of thumb for a pretty well-rounded character is to have your brave and faith at Ramza's initial levels, which are 70 Brave and 70 Faith. Now, you're wondering, what does low/high brave/faith do for a team member? Well, the concept is actually pretty simple...
Let's start with Faith first. If you have a high level of faith, you will be more susceptible to magic damage, in addition to the fact that your magic attacks will cause more damage! The reason I believe it's vital to have at least 70 Faith is because this will work in your favor when it comes to casting Time Magic or White Magic... (your percentage of success for Haste working on you, for example, will be higher if your faith is higher). And yes, you'll receive more magic damage, but who cares? You've got X-Potions and Cure4 for that!
As for Brave, it gets a tiny bit more complicated. In most cases, it's better to have a high brave level, but in one instance, it is more beneficial to have a character with extremely low brave. So, let's explain why... I'll go with why you should have high brave first.
In my opinion, you only need one character with low brave; the rest should all have a brave level of at least 85. The main reason for this is the fact that your reaction ability percentage will go up higher. So, let's say that you have the Counter ability enabled – if someone attacks you, and you have an 85 Brave level, you will have an 85% likelihood of using your Counter reaction ability. And in the case of the knight sword, your attacks will actually be stronger... but I don't think you receive more physical damage based on brave level. So, how can you lose with high brave?! You can't!
...unless... a-ha, there's a but in here! All right, the only time you should have a low brave character is when you're looking for rare items (i.e., items in the Deep Dungeon or Cloud's Materia Blade). The higher your brave, the lower the chances of you getting a rare item with the Move-Find ability. So, let's say your brave is at level 30... that means that you'd have a 30% chance of getting a Phoenix Down instead of, oh say, the wonderful Maximillian armor?! So, my suggestion is to lower someone's brave (typically, I use Rafa because her brave is already low), and then raise their brave after you get all the rare items you want.
