Final Fantasy Tactics
Auto Battle FAQ
By: Brendan Byrd/SineSwiper <
[email protected]>
Version: 0.96 (February 23, 2003)
(Please e-mail me at the above address for any comments, questions, additions,
or corrections.)
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Table of Contents
1. What is the auto-battle feature and why use it?
2. The Basics
a. Auto-battle commands
b. The Pause button
c. Priority and Offensive vs. Defensive Classes
3. Test Conditions
4. Normal Classes
a. Squire
b. Chemist
c. Knight
d. Archer
e. Monk
f. Thief
g. Geomancer
h. Lancer
i. Priest
j. Wizard
k. Oracle
l. Time Mage
m. Mediator
n. Summoner
5. Advanced Classes
a. Dancer
b. Bard
c. Samurai
d. Ninja
e. Calculator
f. Mime
6. Special Classes
a. Squire (Guts)
b. Holy Knight
c. Dark Knight
d. Divine Knight
e. Holy Swordsman
f. Engineer
g. Heaven and Hell Knights
h. Worker 8 (Work)
i. Temple Knight
j. Dragoner
k. Soldier
l. Byblos
7. Special Quirks
a. Last Man Standing
b. Gotta Train Them All!
c. Scared Critical Characters
d. The Teleport Ability
8. Credits
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1. What is the auto-battle feature and why use it?
The auto-battle command is a little-used feature in FFT that uses the in-game
AI engine to control your characters, along with a little bit of control on
how they act. Many people are afraid of using an auto-battle feature in a
advanced tactical game like FFT, because they think it's too simplistic. In
fact, because it uses the same AI engine that is kicking your arse on the
enemies' side, it can be a valuable tool and time-saver...
..as long as you know how to use it.
That is the purpose of this FAQ: to explore the various classes on how they
behave with the engine. Yes, you do lose some of the fine-tuning and control
with the AI engine, but you'll discover that sometimes the AI is smarter than
you and can figure out things 100 times faster than you can. Imagine a
calculator that can figure out the best number combo to kill your all enemies
in one turn...and it figures all of that out in 5-10 seconds.
Using the auto-battle feature isn't cheating (in my book) and it doesn't take
the fun out of the game, but I do recommend beating the game once before
trying it out. (In fact, I don't recommend reading ANY FAQ until you beat the
game once.) However, it is a fun challenge to go through the entire game
using (mostly) auto-battle.
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2. The Basics
a. Auto-battle commands
(Since these commands are pretty badly translated and long-winded, I've
included CAPITAL abbreviations that I'll use from now on.)
Manual - This is what you're used to: human controlled by you. You can
switch by from auto mode by selecting Manual. Please note that if you act
and don't move, or visa-versa, and then select an auto mode, it will
complete the rest of the turn for you.
Fight for life (FIGHT) - This command accepts an enemy target and goes
after it. Like all modes, it won't blindly go after it, if it takes
multiple turns to move to a spot where it can attack the enemy. Your
character may decide to cast some spells on allies (which I generally refer
to as "if it's bored"), or attack other and closer enemies, while it moves
to the target. Later on, when it's in range, it focuses on the target
until it's dead.
Run like a rabbit (RUN) - This is more like "Run like a chicken", if you've
ever seen a <10 Brave character turn into one. Your character will run to
the nearest corner, where there is the least amount of battle. However,
like I said with FIGHT, this doesn't mean that it won't act. It may cast
a spell on an enemy before it flees and/or pump itself up (like
Accumulate). If it's backed into a corner with enemies, it'll fight, as
long as it doesn't change its movement pattern.
Protect allies (PROT) - This command will accept a friendly target and
protect it. "Protect" has a number of definitions in this case. It may
find a close enemy that is potentially threating the target and try to
kill it. It may heal the target if it needs it. It may also revive a
dead target. Or it may cast support magic on the target. The AI will
choose the best option, to keep the target alive, in good health, and
nearby. Additionally, if you tell it to protect itself, it'll buff itself
and make sure it's in decent health. A PROT on itself is sorta like RUN,
except the movement pattern isn't as fearful.
Save fading life (NORM) - This really should be called "Normal auto-battle
mode", as this is more or less a default mode the AI falls in. This is a
combination of FIGHT and PROT, where it chooses the best option (usually)
for the job. This is what you should start out with, when you first start
battle. If you need a more urgent or direct command, you can switch to
one of the others later. Also, this is the default mode when the character
kills a FIGHT target, even though the mode is still technically set to
FIGHT. (If the target happens to come back to life, it'll come right after
him/her again.)
b. The Pause button
The pause button is very important. It's the top green triangle button on
your controller. Whenever the game is in an auto mode, you can hit this to
get your bearings, check the status of various characters, check your AT,
or change AI commands on your characters. When you hit it in the middle of
a character's turn, it will WAIT UNTIL ITS TURN IS COMPLETE! This is
important, as you have think about if you need to change something BEFORE
the character's turn comes up. If in doubt, hit the button and you can
unpause afterwards.
(The correct usage of the pause button is to hold down or turbo the blasted
thing. Sometimes it'll give you a ding to acknowledge that it's going to
pause after the character's turn and then just zip on by. If you keep
pressing the button, it'll stop for you every time.)
When the game is in pause mode, every menu will have an End option. Hit
End to unpause the game. You can actually pause the game even if all of
the characters are in manual mode, in case you need to check on an enemy's
stats before its turn comes up.
c. Priority and Offensive vs. Defensive Classes
Every time an autoed character's turn comes up, the AI engine considers all
of its different actions, weighs them, and figures out the best option for
its auto-battle command. Of course, this is much like how you think, but
there's a fairly definate pattern to the AI's priority. Here's a rough
list on priorities (in order):
1. Reviving a dead ally
2. Healing a critical ally
3. Casting Haste or raising Brave (?)
4. Charming an enemy
5. Killing an enemy (including petrify)
6. Causing damage to the enemy
7. Healing a damaged ally
8. Defensive spells/abilities
Keep in mind that this is a very rough list. When you throw in percentages
and amounts of HP, the list gets really hazy. For example, healing 200 HP
may have a higher priority than a 5% chance of killing an enemy. Also,
many defensive abilities may not be used while in RUN mode, but others do
(such as Haste and Accumulate). But, in general, this is how it works.
Therefore, your weapon and your two skills on the character are important.
Since offensive abilities generally overpower the defensive ones, you want
to make sure that you have at least one offensive skill set to offset any
offensive abilities in a defensive skill set.
For example, a Priest with his poor stick and no secondary job will spend
his time casting Holy on every living creature, and casting Cure 4 or Raise
2 on every undead one. These spells take time. One flaw in the AI's
priority scheme is that AT cost is not a major factor, as long as the
target is definately going to get hit (using the Unit lock). (Exceptions
are spells like Meteor or other super-slow abilities that have a speed
below 10.)
However, you set Steal as his secondary, and he will spend more time
trying to charm enemies, which is an instant ability. He will still use
Holy, but since he has more options (including also stealing items), it
would be used smarter.
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3. Test Conditions
In order to research this information, I did it when I was buffed up and
almost at the last boss. Therefore, this research is based on classes with
all of the skills mastered. You may have somewhat different results if you
have non-mastered characters, but it more or less turns into the same thing.
(If you like to contribute some data or strange quirks on the non-mastered
classes, feel free to e-mail me about it.)
Also, on most of this, I've switched the character to the primary class and
removed the secondary, so that I get a "pure" look at how the class acts.
Sometimes though, I may add a secondary, or switch the class to a secondary to
see how they interact. Obviously, I don't have enough time or patience to
completely test out every single combination, but once you understand how the
AI engine behaves, you can get a feel for which classes and actions it
prioritizes.
I'm also not going to give a run down on how every monster acts because, one,
they usually only have a few skills, and two, you see them in action all the
time, anyway.
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4. Normal Classes
(Some may notice that I use the word "it" to describe the character, since I
am refering to the AI engine, and not characters or classes themselves.)
a. Squire
The Squire is a pretty basic class, with a pretty basic AI. If set to RUN
(or if it's bored), it'll start using Accumulate on itself. Otherwise, it
will either attack with its weapon, if in range, or use Throw Stone, if
outside weapon range. It may use Heal on a friendly, if it feels that the
affiction is serious enough.
I've never seen it use Dash, as my weapons were much better than the damage
it causes, but judging from how the earlier enemies used it, the AI may try
to use Dash to push an enemy off a ledge and try to cause fall damage. My
guess is that if the Dash + fall damage is less than the weapon damage, it
doesn't bother with it any more.
Overall: A+
[There's not much to a Squire, and there's not much to screw up, so
you should trust in the AI, and just let it do its thing.]
b. Chemist
Like the enemy AI, the Chemist does good at its job. It heals, it revives,
it fixes ailments, it shoots/stabs enemies. It'll even toss a Phoenix Down
to the nearest undead enemy for a quick kill. Combined with a good
offensive secondary, the Chemist does a good balance between healing
allies and banishing enemies.
One big thing: it is wasteful with the Elixirs. It won't toss one just to
heal 30 HP (as a Potion does that job just as well), but if you're down by
200 HP, it'll use one. If it revives somebody using a PD (with the
pathetic 11 HP recovery), it'll use an Elixir afterwards (for higher-level
250+ HP characters, of course). It'll even toss one to an undead enemy,
even though PDs do the trick just as well.
Overall: B+
[If you value your Elixirs, you may want to manually control the
chemist. Otherwise, if you don't have any Elixirs, don't have the ability
researched, or simply don't care about them, the Chemist works well.]
c. Knight
The Knight, like the Squire, will bash its sword on the first enemy it
sees, though it does like tearing into a mage's cloth best. Most of the
time, it doesn't use the break skills too often, if a more powerful sword
slash works better. However, if you have a semi-weak weapon, or use
Equip Gun, it tends to start breaking stuff more often.
Because of the odds, the Knight likes to break the helmet first, and then
it'll go after the weapon. However, if the situation demands a weapon
break, such as when an archer is charging, it'll go for it right away.
I've never seen it use a Magic/Speed/Power/Mind break, and that's probably
for the better. Except for certain special situations, they usually suck.
Overall: A-
[Kinda wish it broke things more often, but statistically, it's probably
better to just kill the enemy fast, rather than roll the dice each time.]
d. Archer
Let's face it: using the bow properly is awkward, especially on flat land.
Since moving to a location is permanent, it's really annoying when you try
to guess where to move your character, and realize that it's the wrong spot
to shoot your enemy. Well, since the enemy's archers can easily go from
spot to spot, so can you! The AI will get the right shot every time.
It'll even try to seek out a hill to get better coverage.
Bow-handling aside, the Charge skill works well with swords, and even
Ninjas with two maces. One weapon I found that the AI never charged with
was the gun, however. Try as I might, my archers (or chemists) would never
use the Charge skill with the gun equipped.
The Archers also never use anything beyond Charge+5 because it takes too
long. But, if a enemy is stuck (via Don't Move or the like), it might
consider a Charge+7 or higher.
Overall: A
[The lack of gun-charging is kinda disappointing, but the ease of shooting
with a bow more than makes up for it.]
e. Monk
The Monk loves to pop a far-away enemy with an Earth Slash, even in spots
you didn't think existed. Wave Punch is another favorite. Next to an
actual monk punch (which hurts like hell!), these seem to be the only
offensive skills it uses. (After all, why bother with something like
Secret Fist?) However, on lower levels, it may use stuff like Repeating
Fist, if a monk punch isn't strong enough. (Heh, I know I did.)
The support abilities are used quite well. Chakra on allies that need
healing, and Revive on the dead. It will also use Stigma Magic if somebody
really needs it.
Overall: A+
[A good well-balanced class also comes with a good well-balanced AI.]
f. Thief
The Thief mostly does what it does best: stealing. It will almost
exclusively charm the enemies it can, and steal items from the ones it
can't. If the enemy can't be charmed, there's about a 50/50 chance on
if it'll stab the opponent in the back (literally), or if it'll start
to steal items.
Like the Knight, it'll start at the head first, then the weapon. And
like the Knight, it'll steal a weapon immediately, if the enemy is
charging. That part of the AI seems to follow the same mechanics.
Overall: A
[The AI puts a priority on charming, which is more or less what I did
anyway. Too bad I can't tell it to steal all of the Genji stuff
for me :) ]
g. Geomancer
Hey, what's there to tell about the Geomancer AI? If (distance = far) then
use Elemental. If (distance = close) then use weapon. It also tends to
favor Elemental if it's going to hit multiple enemies.
I don't think the AI tries to use one ground or another, as they are all
the same damage, anyway. As far as non-mastered classes, it might actually
affect how it moves, but I don't know for sure.
Overall: A+
[Like the squire, it's a simple class that isn't easy to screw up.]
h. Lancer
Ahhh, the Lancer. No more trying to figure out if the jump is going to
land on time or not. (I curse Square for not putting an AT plotter for
this skill!) It always jumps on time, or it may favor a direct lance blow
if the damage is right.
Overall: A+
[Need I say more?]
i. Priest
Like I implied in section 2c, the Priest doesn't work great with its
single skill. Yes, sometimes it'll heal your friends, but this Priest is
mostly a daring and offensive little boy. Unless you tell it to RUN,
it'll march right into the frontlines.
However, give it an offensive secondary skill, or even Time Magic, and
it'll behave better, because it has more to choose from. Don't get me
wrong: the AI will use White Magic for Walls, Protect/Shell 2, and healing
people, but it seems to put a priority on doing 400+ HP of damage with
Holy.
Hey, why not? That DOES hurt a lot, doesn't it? Well, it does seem to
waste too much time on the low-speed spells, when there's 4 different
baddies nearby. This is because spells like Raise 2 and Cure 4 are slow
(both with a speed of 10). If you give it a Summon Magic secondary (or
primary), it'll ditch Cure 4 in favor of Fairy (speed 25). It'll still
use Raise 2 and Holy, but will also use the summons for multiple enemies.
Overall: B-
[A little bit more care in how you choose your secondary is required for
using the AI for this class. Really, most of the secondaries work well,
but you may want to experiment with it. Again, refer to section 2c.]
j. Wizard
Like the Priest, the Wizard can have problems with using too many low-speed
spells, but since the Wizard -IS- an offensive class, it has more bang with
all of that time it used up. The Wizard likes Flare, but it also like
Death quite a bit (with a 1/3rd of the MP of Flare), as well as the
Fire/Ice/Bolt 4 spells. However, it cares more about hitting one enemy
with a lot of damage on a low-speed spell (like a unit-focused Fire 4),
rather than hitting several enemies with somewhat less damage on a higher
speed spell (like a Fire 2 or 3).
It also has a big problem with using multi-ranged spells (Fire/Ice/Bolt) on
enemies, locked on with Unit, who move to the nearest ally and the Wizard
ends up nuking both of them. Priests don't have that problem because
Holy is a single unit spell. Short Charge is definately a good idea for
the Wizard.
Overall: C-
[The Wizard wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for the unit-locking
slow-spell problem. This is a flaw I abused in the enemies' AI engine that
carries over here. Unfortunately, this means you'd have to have a few
Chemist/Priests handy.]
k. Oracle
If there's one thing the AI engine is good at, it's at dealing with status
effects. I was starting to lose my faith in the AI's ability to handle
mage classes, until I saw how it plays an Oracle. It dishes out the status
effects properly: Darkness on physical attackers, Confuse, Petrify (casts
this quite a bit), Berserk, Paralyze, Life Drain. It seems to use all of
Yin Yang spells, and use them effectively. It will even cast Innocent on
an ally to avoid a charging spell, or Faith to enhance a Cure spell. (If
it's bored, it'll cast Faith anyway.)
If all the other options seem to be too low on percentages (or just not
worth the effort), it won't be afraid to go up and use that unusually-high
damaging stick of his, to take off a quarter of the enemy's health and no
counter to himself (due to the range).
Overall: A
[Watching the autoed Oracle play has made me realized how badass an Oracle
can be.]
l. Time Mage
The Time Mage put extreme amounts of priority on Haste, which is a good
thing. Though, since the other group members may start moving out of the
way, it'll only get 1-2 allies at a time. Assigning RUN will -still- cause
the Time Mage to cast Haste on allies. (It's unusual for a mage-class to
use up MP while in RUN.) So, if they are in a corner, giving everybody a
RUN command for a turn or two will ensure that everybody has Haste in a
reasonable amount of time.
As far as the other spells, it uses them pretty well. It favors doing
damage with spells like Demi 1/2, as well as some of the effect spells like
Don't Move. The Time Mage is also not afraid of dropping a Meteor on a foe
who's stuck, smashing any enemies that wander in its massive range.
Overall: B+
[The Time Mage manages itself well. High-priority on Haste ensures a good
advantage over the enemy.]
m. Mediator
The Mediator generally plays as expected: shooting its gun, and using its
skills to distract the enemy. Since raising Brave is such a high priority,
it will use Praise every chance it can muster: when it's bored, on RUN, or
any "extra" turn. In general, this is a good thing, but it doesn't like to
use Preach, though, probably because of the risk of 95+ Fa (which causes a
member to leave permanently after battle). It will sometimes use Solution
to lower Faith on a physical class, but this happens rarely.
As far as the "offensive" skills, the main ones it uses are Death Sentence
(anyone), Insult (mainly mages or classes/monsters with damaging skills),
and Mimic Daravon (anyone especially on multiple targets). Beyond that,
I've never seen it use Invitation and Persuade, which is disappointing, as
these are good skills. (I think it doesn't like the low odds on those
skills.)
However, with the exception of Praise, these skills are usually
over-shadowed by better offensive abilities with most secondary skill sets.
(Why use Insult when you can cause damage?) If you want the Mediator to
use more of its skills, try a (very) defensive skill set, such as Item.
Overall: C
[The Mediator plays decent, but the lack of Invitation/Persuade hurts its
grade. Also, using Praise over and over again gets kinda annoying.]
n. Summoner
Summoners work very well. They seem to drop the damage in the right
places. Since their spells are fast and they only affect enemies/allies,
they don't suffer from the problems that Wizards (and Priests) have.
Though they do have some minor issues that I'll address:
No Golem - Golem is probably the best summon in the game, if not one of
the best spells in the game, and the Summoner doesn't even bother to use
it, even if it's faced with nothing but physical attackers.
Casts Carbunkle - Usually, I would consider this to be a waste of a turn
and MP. I don't use Reflect, because most of the major spells punch
right through it. On the plus side, the AI engine seems to use Reflect
to its advantage to bounce off reflected allies and attack enemies that
are normally out-of-range, which ends up being a neat effect.
Drains MP - Summoners tend to drain massive amounts of MP, so you may
want to use Half MP or equip some Chemists with Ethers.
Overall: B+
[The lack of Golem is disappointing, but you can manually cast this spell
on the first turn, and turn them loose afterwards.]
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5. Advanced Classes
a. Dancer
The Dancer does Wiznaibus. Since this is the only damage-based dance,
that's all it does. If there is a secondary with higher damage, it will
use that instead. Unforunately, the Dancer doesn't realize that doing
Nameless Dance is a lot more effective than causing 17HP of damage once a
turn.
Overall: D
[The AI engine more or less sucks with this class, though the best thing to
do is start a Nameless Dance and set it to RUN, anyway.]
b. Bard
The Bard, unlike the Dancer, fairs a lot better at using its skills. It
starts out doing Nameless Song or Cheer, and will switch songs if somebody
is low on HP/MP, or if the situation demands it. It's not afraid of using
its harp if the damage is right. However, if you have an offensive
secondary, it may start using its offensive skills, instead of singing.
Overall: B
[Sometimes it's better to just stick with one song, but the Bard uses its
skills properly. If you want just one song, start singing it manually, and
set it to RUN.]
c. Samurai
A Samurai will attack more often than it should, in my opinion. I consider
the Draw Out skill to be one of the best support skills in the game, though
it likes to use its many attack skills. It -does- use the support skills
(like Kiyomori), so that part is not a total loss. It will also use
Murasame, if its allies' HP is low.
Unforunately, it's not afraid of using your rare katanas, either. (Square,
WHY PUT A SKILL THAT COULD BREAK A RARE WEAPON?!) After all, Masamune
casts Haste, which is a high priority for the AI engine.
Overall: B-
[Equip your Masamune to protect from lossing it early in a battle. Even
then, I wish it would use Kiyomori more often. Like the Summoner, the best
thing to do is to use Kiyomori on everybody and set it to NORM.]
d. Ninja
The Ninja is awesome! Not only is it a badass class, the AI knows how to
use them, too. It'll attack up close, and throw items from far away.
Generally, it will stick with the ninja stars and elemental balls. Best of
all, it WON'T THROW OUT YOUR RARE WEAPONS! So, no fear of your Excalibur
flying in the air just for an extra 20HP of damage.
Even smarter, it will consider a weapon to be "not rare" if it's after a
certain number. For example, I bought a bunch of Octagon Rods to total 13
in my collection, since the Octagon Rod does more damage than the Yaguu
Darkness. When the Ninja played next, it starting throwing a few Octagon
Rods. So, if you have the money, you can stock up on non-standard throwing
items and let them use it to your advantage.
They are also excellent trainers. (See section 7c for details.)
One thing to point out: the Ninja is a VERY offensive class, so using
defensive secondaries is probably not a good idea. However, it does seem
to work well with Item, since reviving dead allies is highest on the list.
Overall: A+
[Dishes pain and kicks ass!]
e. Calculator
The Calculator's AI is more or less the entire basis of this FAQ. This is
the class that made me discover how well the AI handles itself. With the
AI engine, you don't have to spend 5-10 minutes trying to figure out the
best combination to use, because it does it for you in 2-10 seconds.
When set to FIGHT, it will find the best combo to eliminate your target.
However, this also means that if it doesn't find a combo that hits the
target and doesn't hit an ally, it will use one that hits the target and
DOES hit an ally. On cases like this, it will find the one that hits the
least number of allies.
However, DO -NOT- use PROT mode with a Calculator! For some reason, it
will do strange stuff like cast CT5 Blind Rage (ON EVERYBODY), instead of
doing what you want, like casting Haste on the allies. You can use this to
bring an ally back to life, but NORM seems to do this anybody.
The spell of choice for the Calc is Holy, even though Flare has a shorter
animation, but of course, the AI engine is not going to factor animation
speed for that sort of thing. (This can be a good thing for allies with
Holy healing items on.)
It will detect what items are on your allies and enemies that prevent
status effects. For example, if all of your allies have Angel Rings (which
prevent Death), it will cast CT5 Death a majority of the time.
Undead enemies drop like flies with spells like Raise and Cure. It will
even Raise/Cure allies and kill undead at the same time.
Since the Math Skill is such a high-powered skill, the secondary is
ignored, except in VERY special circumstances.
Overall: A++
[If used properly, the AI Calculator saves a helluva lot of time!]
f. Mime
The Mime really only has one ability, which is attack, so it go forth and
attacks. What is special about the AI engine with Mimes is not what the
Mimes do, but what everybody else does. Physical classes don't seem to pay
attention to the Mime's ability much, even to the point of causing the Mime
to slash a sword in the back of an ally.
However, it does work pretty well with mages. The mages seem to know where
the mages are and dishes out double/triple damage to enemies with them.
Samurais will use them effectively, too.
Calculators use them the best. Calcs will adjust their spells to lower or
higher grades, since it knows the spell will hit twice. For example, it
may use Fire 3, instead of Holy, since double damage is enough to kill the
target. Or it might use Raise 2, instead of Raise 1, since there's a
better chance of raising with full HP (or killing undead), when it's casted
twice.
Overall: D+
[It might be best to put the Mimes on RUN, and use non-direct skills, such
as Calcs, Bards, and Dancers. Even without that, it still fares pretty
well with mage skills, but its fearless behavior might get it killed.]
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6. Special Classes
a. Squire (Guts)
Ramza as a Squire works much like a normal Squire, except with more
abilities, which the AI engine takes advantage of. When it's bored, it
will cast Yell or Cheer Up to increase speed and brave levels. Wish will
be used on allies with low HP, and it's not afraid to cast Ultima, either.
However, despite being an awesome ability, it'll never use Scream,
favoring abilities that raise levels on other allies.
Overall: B+
[Works as normal, but the lack of Scream hurts it a lot.]
b. Holy Knight
Agrias prefers to use Lightning Stab most of the time, because of the
range, but it will also use Holy Explosion up front, because of the
damage. Sometimes, it likes to use Crush Punch if it's faced with an enemy
with high HP (since it may trigger an instant death).
Overall: A+
[Not very many skills, so it's not hard to use.]
c. Dark Knight
(I have not actually field tested this with Gafgarion, but with my
experience the Thunder God, guest/enemy mode on Gafgarion, and the fact
that we are only talking about two skills, I think I can make an accurate
assessment of how the skill works.)
Gafgarion uses Dark Sword. Gafgarion does too much damage to use Night
Sword on mages, so it does Dark Sword over and over again.
Overall: A+
[Duh...Dark Sword. Next?]
d. Divine Knight
Since Meliadoul's skills only affect humans, it will only use it on humans.
When faced with a human enemy, it will attack the armor first and then the
weapon. (I'm not sure what happens after that, because the enemy usually
ends up dead at that point.) Also, like the Knight, it will hit the weapon
first if it will deny an attack, such as a Charge skill. On monsters, it
will use its regular attack (obviously).
Overall: A
[I'd prefer weapon then armor, but the enemy is dead in two hits anyway.]
e. Holy Swordsman
Orlandu, of course, uses a combination of all three of the Knight skills.
As such, the AI engine works the same way:
Dark Knight skill if it needs healing.
Divine Knight skill if the enemy is human.
Holy Knight skill otherwise.
Overall: A+
[As if using a character that kills most enemies in one hit requires that
much skill anyway...]
f. Engineer
With only three skills, Mustadio fairs well in battle. The aim skills are
pretty high on the priority list, leaving your other members the job of
cleaning up defenseless enemies. It will mix up between Arm and Leg Aim,
though it favors Leg Aim on enemies with no high-range ability, so that
your left with an enemy who can't move AND can't use any abilities. With
the undead, it uses Seal Evil with a passion.
Overall: A+
[Probably more effective than you are.]
g. Heaven and Hell Knights
Sadly, at the writing of this FAQ, I had ditched these two characters,
because the game limits you to 20 max, and this were currently the two most
worthless characters in the group. Actually, these characters still ARE
the more worthless characters in the game. (Somebody burned a village for
their powers?! Why didn't anybody burn a village for a Calculator's
powers?)
I may get to them on another run through the game, but I'm sure you've seen
how pathetic they play when they are on Guest or Enemy mode anyway.
Anybody using these characters are using them out of pity or just to make
the game hard.
h. Worker 8 (Work)
Worker 8 uses its skills the way you do: Dispose 90% of the time, and the
other skills when it gets close. There is not much to using the Work
skills, anyway.
Overall: A+
[Even simpler than the Squire class.]
i. Temple Knight
Beowulf uses his abilities much like an Oracle, with priority on Break.
However, try as you might, he will never use Shock. It's pretty
disappointing, because this is such a high damage spell.
Overall: C+
[Not bad, but the lack of Shock hurts its grade big time.]
j. Dragoner
One would think that a Dragoner would use its Dragon abilities on dragons.
Not so with the AI engine. Like many other unusual skills, if the skill
isn't expected to be used by the enemy or guests, Squaresoft won't factor
it into the AI engine. Therefore, Reis doesn't use ANY of its Dragon
skills, not even Dragon Tame.
A few pluses: it does use Holy Breath to attack enemies which are normally
out of range, it heals other monsters that have elemental healing using its
breath, and it does acknowledge that Reis has built-in Train ability (and
changes its tactics accordingly; see section 7b for details.).
Overall: C-
[Sure, it can defend itself, but what's the point of a Dragoner if it
doesn't defend its dragons?]
k. Soldier
Cloud does one thing: Finish Touch. That's about it. Hey, why not? When
you're guaranteed to cause Stop, Dead, or Petrify, there's really no reason
to try to "cause damage". (Pffft...damage? That's the hard way.) When it
can't use Finish Touch (bosses, enemies which are immune to all three), it
will use some of the other abilities, based on the amount of damage its
going to cause, and how much time it can get away with charging. It will
never use any of the time-wasting skills, such as Cherry Blossom, as they
take waaay too long to use.
Overall: A
[Doesn't seem to use Cherry Blossom on stuck enemies, but so what? Finish
Touch is all you need.]
l. Byblos
(Coming soon...)
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7. Special Quirks
a. Last Man Standing
Because of the way the AI engine was designed, the characters may ignore
enemies that are considered to be too screwed up to fight, or basically not
worth the effort. The three status effects that seem to cause this are:
Frog, Sleep, and Death Sentence. Normally, this is a good tactic to ensure
that all of the damage is not wasted, and to kill enemies that actually
might be able to hurt you back.
(There are some rare exceptions to this. For example, a Time Mage may drop
a Meteor on a sleeping enemy, since it's guaranteed to hit one enemy, and
probably hit others. I'm not sure of other exceptions, because this is the
only example I've seen.)
However, this is kinda annoying when you're down to the last enemy, who has
one of these status effects. The AI will pretend that no enemies exist and
start healing each other or casting support magic on themselves. The FIGHT
command, however, overrides this.
b. Gotta Train Them All!
Much to my surprise, I've learned that the AI engine actually knows about
characters with Train. Since there is a very good chance of Train turning
the enemy to your side, the AI will actually try to get the enemy critical,
rather than killing them outright. The key is getting characters that can
dish out both major and minor damage. Since Train only works on attacks
with your weapon (Attack/Charge/Counter), you need class with a decent
weapon on hand.
Here are some good examples:
Archer - Because of its Charge ability, it can vary the damage it can take,
and get them trained. Really, a Charge secondary will work, too.
Geomancer - A Geomancer has a good far away attack to take away some HP for
a while, and then attack with the axe. Because of the highly-variable
damage of the axe, it sometimes gets them critical.
Oracle - Its long-range stick can do a decent amount of damage to knock an
enemy critical.
Mediator/Engineer - The gun attacks are usually weak, but because of the
long range, it can pick anybody who's fairly low on HP and train it.
Ninja - Ninjas are one of the best trainers because of the two maces. One,
the maces are, like the axe, highly-variable in their damage. Two, it
doesn't matter if both hits will kill them, because the first hit could get
the enemy critical, train it, and the second hit will kill him. As long as
the enemy doesn't completely vanish, you'll be able to invite them into
your party. (The healers will usually try to revive it, anyway.) This also
includes weapons with elemental abilities, so it could be like this: Hit,
Fire 2, Train, Hit.
Dragoner - Because Reis has the breath attacks to do big damage, and a
purse (or her fist) to train them.
c. Scared Critical Characters
Critical characters change their tactics dramatically. They are generally
permanently at RUN, no matter what the setting. Critical characters may
occasionally be daring, but this is rare. (You've usually seen this
behavior with the enemy, anyway.)
d. Teleport = Fly
The AI engine isn't nearly as daring with Teleport as us normal folk are.
This is usually a good thing, because I'm cursing at Teleport all the
time for missing a move. It treats it like Fly, since they can go at any
height, regardless of if there are enemies in the path, but only move as
many square as you have Move points, because those are the only 100%
guaranteed spots.
There are a few situations where it might risk moving beyond the range (if
it's really bored), but they are extremely rare.
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8. Credits
This is the first version of this FAQ, so I'll just give all of the credit to
myself :) Exceptions are Squaresoft, GameFAQs, blah, blah, blah...
To be nice, I will give credits to the following guides (on GameFAQs):
JMiaso's Jobs/Abilities Chart
Aerostar's Battle Mechanics Guide (mathmaticians with a LOT of time on
their hands :)
TheDan's JP Scroll Glitch FAQ (used to get the characters to where they are
now)
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This FAQ is Copyleft 2003 Brendan Byrd
