RMN PLAYS: FINAL FANTASY TACTICS RANDOMIZER HACK

There was an attempt by Trihan a couple months ago to do an RMN Plays: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. The idea was fun, but it moved really slowly because it was going turn by turn.

So this'll work a little differently. You guys can give lots of suggestions at once, for multiple characters and multiple actions, and even just sort of general strategies. Anything goes. If you tell me to do it, I'll try to do it (unless it's something just absolutely monumentally stupid that I'm worried it will put the game in an unwinnable state). This also means you can give pseudo-commands like "Attack that chemist on the rooftop with whoever gets a turn next" or "Have everyone group up in a phalanx formation" or "Use Ramza's strongest skill" instead of having to specify exact tiles to move onto. However, if you want to specify exact tiles to move onto, go for it.

Actions submitted will be executed in the priority they're submitted, but not necessarily the order they're submitted, since I can't control what order the characters get their turns in.

This is open to anyone, you don't have to sign up or anything, feel free to just show up out of the blue with a brand new rpgmaker.net account and yell "DRINK A POTION"

Also, this is important: I'm not playing a normal copy of Final Fantasy Tactics. I'm using a hack called "Rumble Chaos Crashdown" that randomly changes many aspects of the game. Jobs have different skills, stats, and equipment selection. The job tree is randomized, so jobs will be unlocked in a random order. Spells may have be stronger or weaker than normal. The special jobs of unique characters will act differently. Enemy monsters will be changed randomly. And so forth. One of the options in this hack was "Enable special surprises," and I turned that option on, so I'm not even sure what all will happen.

Without further ado, let's begin the game:



...I did that in Photoshop, the hack doesn't actually change the title screen.

Our game begins in Orbonne Monastery, with Princess Ovelia praying for the souls of her country.



...We are experiencing technical difficulties.

When was the last time I used ePSXe, anyway? I bet this version is close to a decade old. I think I need to adjust some things in the video settings.

Everything else is fine, just this one text box looks goofy, so I'll worry about it later.



We're introduced to Agrias, the holy knight and Princess Ovelia's loyal bodyguard, as well as Gafgarion, the dark knight and mercenary hired to protect her. Our main character, LockeZ, nee Ramza, has the blue shirt.



Suddenly a female knight bursts into the room, looking suspiciously like a male ninja. Or maybe "Female Knight" is just his name. Already I like this hack.



We learn that the main character is also a mercenary, working with Gafgarion.




Duke Goltana, of the house of the Black Lion, has sent kidnappers to abduct the princess. His kidnappers include three mimes, which is a little weird. One of them apparently has a crush on Agrias.




The virtues of our holy knight clash with the pragmatism of our dark knight. Though, I don't really think Goltana wants us to kill them all. I think he probably wants them to kill us.



...I guess Gafgarion won the argument, apparently.



The battle begins with... wait, why am I controlling Gafgarion? This is a tutorial fight, all of these characters are supposed to act automatically except the main character!

Let's see what skills he knows...



...He knows a Holy Knight skill. It's listed under Dark Sword, but it's totally Agrias's attack. It can damage enemies in a 3x3 cross shaped area a couple tiles away, and sometimes inflict Stop.

He also has Charge +1 and Charge +3, which are just slower, more powerful normal attacks.

The basic effects of these skills are the same as normal, but they're sometimes stronger or weaker than they should be. Possibly other differences.



Apparently none of my characters are flagged as guests, so you guys can control all of them. Neat. Agrias has almost exactly the same skills as Gafgarion, just different Charge skills. She starts with way too much archer AP for her own good and already knows Charge +5.



This random wizard has holy knight skills also. And a sword, shield and helmet.



WTF, she doesn't even HAVE the holy knight job! I can't see what holy knight skills she knows until it's her turn. She does know Fire and Fire2.



Rad is a squire like normal, instead of being transformed into some weird job. The squire skills he knows are Dash and... Poison? Squires aren't supposed to learn Poison, though it's useless enough that it fits the job perfectly.

He somehow doesn't have the wizard job unlocked, despite it being his secondary command, so I can't see what black magic he knows. Mysteries abound.



Ramza LockeZ has Mighty Sword. This is getting ridiculous. I am looking forward to using Shellbust stab and Hellcry Punch on these stupid mimes. He also knows his basic shitty default squire skills: Dash, Throw Stone and Wish.



I also have a dragoon behind Gafgarion, named Alicia, whom you can't see because of the camera angle. She can Jump and use more of those stupid archer Charge skills. She... also has Faith status, somehow, even though no one's taken a turn yet. I guess dragoons have auto-faith now? Or maybe a piece of equipment is doing that? Faith status means that she does a ton of damage with magic but is also extremely vulnerable to magic. Since she can't actually use magic, I'm not thrilled about that.

Now awaiting commands from the RMN user base. Anyone who wants me to do anything: post your thing to do.

Gafgarion lays the smackdown. The final mime is slain. Ramza's life is sacrificed as well. Gafgarion doesn't particularly give a shit.

Mimes Slaughtered: 3



As the battle ends, we hear my text message notification sound a female scream! Princess Ovelia was not safe inside the church after all! It had a back door, and these brigands were merely a distraction.

A handsome knight in gold and red armor punches the princess's lights out and escapes on... on a... um.



Well, that's not right.



Ramza recognizes the kidnapper as an old friend, thought to be dead. He watches speechless as Delita rides off into the sunset on the back of a ghost.

The screen fades to black, and the stage ends.



We rewind time by one year, to witness the origins of Delita, the man who would be known as the hero who saved Ivalice -- wait, what? That's not the main character? Shouldn't the hero be the guy you're playing as?



Too late to complain, we're in full backstory mode now.



...Erm, what chapter were we in up until now?



LockeZ and Delita are revealed to be buds at this juncture. They're hanging out with some other military cadets at a training academy.




The commander busts in, telling us that a rebel group called the Death Corps is causing a ruckus, and that there aren't enough knights to deal with them, so we cadets have been called to action.

Every time he changes poses, he swaps between being a dragoon and a knight. I guess the randomizer turned him into a dragoon, but there's no dragoon pose for looking to the side or pointing your arm forward. It's a funny effect. Several of the cadets transform between chemists and dragoons mid-scene as well.

We're asked to defend the city from some thieves who may or may not be Death Corps members, but we're going to kill them anyway just to be safe. After we're done, we're supposed to head to Igros Castle to rendesvous with the rest of the knights.









The first battle of Chapter 1!

We have seven party members available. The main character, LockeZ, cannot be removed from the party. We can add up to four other characters alongside him. Delita will be there with us also as a guest character (in theory, but anything could happen because randomizer).

Relevant info:
- Lancers have more HP because they're wearing better armor.
- Lancers have WAY better attack power.
- Squires are about 40% faster.
- Characters can switch jobs after this battle.
- Bravery is the best stat in the game for physical characters.
- Faith is good for magical characters and bad for physical characters.
- The lancer in the previous battle had a permanent status effect, making her always be treated like she had 100 faith. It's possible that every lancer will have that effect. I can't really tell yet.

Who should we bring?