Lemme take this bit by bit, though it seems you're going for a pretty competitive team.Originally Posted by Boss Jr.
I'm on my second playthrough on FFTA2 right now and my first playthrough really helped me realise the differences from this one and FFTA. In FFTA all I had to do was create a Viera Assassin with concentrate and reflex. add the those boots that make her teleport and the ribbon that bestows ReRaise and she was all I needed to whipe out entire enemy clans.
Now though I can't seem to make uber powerful characters like that anymore.... this game is more, *cringe* balanced!
So I'm a little lost :/ .
My main character is heading towards Ninja for Double Sword and I'll outfit him with counter, but that doesn't help me with the A Abilities.
I'm still fairly sure I'm going with Assassin on my Viera, but what about the second A Ability? What would go good? Before I did Summoner but IDK this time, though I might go with Red Mage.
My Moogle's second A Ability will probably be Time Mage but for the first I'm not sure. I had Moogle Knight or Fusilier/Gunner (whatever you want to call it) in mind but I'm open to anything.
My Nu Mou has no direction at all. I have no idea what I want to do with him except I was thinking I'd keep White Magic on him since he seems to be good with that. Though Red mages are really good at healing via Double Cast so I might just turn him into a Magic Powerhouse *shrugs*.
Right now my Bangaa is a Dragoon..... I like Dragoons I'm thinking I'll stick with that. I was thinking about Bishop for the second though to give him a little distance because he has a little trouble getting in close <_< .
My other Human has no direction either. I don't want him to become a clone of my main character so I've been trying alot of stuff. I considered Blue Mage but I always thought they were kind of rubbish. Otherwise I'm completely lost on this one. Also had White Mage in mind though, seems to work well with Paladin, but that's what I usually do so I wanted to try something different.
Oh and are the Seeq and Gria races worth having on a clan? Should I maybe trade out for one or even both of them? Might be worth trading my second Human for one, but IDK?
Anyway, any comments would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Hume Ninja: I presume this is your main character, right? Ninja is pretty much self-sufficient, but you can use Fighter to cover your physical attacks. Thief takes advantage of the Speed bonus of the Ninja, but it's not going to be used always. Paladin could cover any defensive needs, but most of what you need is Reflexes or Strikeback and call it a day. Parivir as a secondary A-Ability works well with Katanas and covers the close-range distance with strong elemental attacks. Ninja/Fighter is another option, but recall that Dual Wield doesn't apply with the Fighter's A-Abilities; the latter is mostly for higher damage with the two weapons and some ranged capability)
Viera Assassin: There are two methods for her. The first method is taking advantage of abilities that use the Greatbow: Fencer and Sniper are usually good options to take advantage of the Assassin's use of Greatbows. Assassin/Sniper is a strong combo, since it adds ranged Poison, Doubleshot, and Vanish as class abilities that synergize with Assassin. Fencer, on the other hand, has another method of dealing Poison damage (Swarmstrike), an attack that lowers Speed (that way, your Assassin can debuff the enemy before going for the kill), Nightingale for when using a Katana, amongst the few abilities that are considerably good. Using Katanas isn't a good option for Assassins, in any case: most of your Assassin A-Abilities don't require a weapon at all. Haven't tested it yet, but Spellblade may be a reasonable option to combine with Assassin (not sure if it mingles with Greatbows, though), except that the Spellblade abilities and the Assassin abilities do tend to overlap a bit.
Moogle: If you're going to use Fusilier, make it your primary class: most of the class abilities are Cannon-only. Fusilier/Gunner, Fusilier/Mog Knight and Gunner/Mog Knight are strong classes: the first combines healing with elemental damage and debuffing (especially Stopshot which is really, really good), the second and the third allow for some attacks to use the cannon/gun range (specifically: Mog Attack, Mog Rush, Ultima Charge) while providing some buffing to defense. Juggler is a bit harder to combine, but it's also a superb class: it has both Dagger for dealing damage and Disabling, Ring for high chances of Stopping an enemy, and Smile for free Quickens. However, Juggler is a tad hard to combine, since most of its abilities are "self-contained" (not like, say, Mog Knight which has abilities that depend on range and thus are good when set with long range classes). Try to experiment, in any case. One advice is when using Chocobo Knight: Chocobo Knights only allow one or two of the A-Abilities, so it depends on whether you want to go mounted or on foot. They have a stupendous Speed rate, so if you wish to train one both Mog Knight and Juggler are strong options.
Nu Mou: they'll be magical powerhouses with any class except Beastmaster. Having said that, your goal should be to reach Alchemist or Sage, and using any other class as a secondary A-Ability. Alchemist allows you to use items, while Sage has better defenses and weapons. Illusionist is a strong A-Ability for Nu Mou, particularly if you have Geomancy as your S-Ability. Arcanist is a tad difficult to play since it has a weird set of abilities (Dark elemental spells, Gravity elemental spells and Death spells); Scholar on the other hand is a bit situational. Alchemist/Black Mage, Sage/White Mage are good choices; I find Arcanist/Time Mage and Scholar/Time Mage other good options. However, you should have at least one Alchemist or Sage Nu Mou, since those are the highlights of Nu Mou classes.
Bangaa: Dragoon and Bishop don't mix a lot. Dragoon is pretty hard to mix, since it uses Spears (one of the better Bangaa weapons) and has most of the elemental abilities, so it overlaps with Gladiator. Dragoon/Defender and Dragoon/Templar are much better options: with Defender, you can use Aura/Meltdown and then go kamikaze, using Lancet to recover HP whenever necessary. Dragoon/Templar is another good choice because Templar mixes with everything. In fact, in most occasions Templar/Dragoon is a better choice; then again, Templar is a classs that blends with pretty much everything. Bishop is best used along with Templar, or in rare cases as a secondary set up to the gambler class (Gambler? Scoundrel? Away from the game, but you might get the point). If you decide to go with Bishop instead, you can have the Templar as a secondary class ability. In case you haven't noticed: the Templar skill list is just THAT good.
Other Hume: If you're planning on a Paladin, there are about four or five options with them. One is Paladin/Devout, which allows Cura, Raise, three attack spells, Magick Frenzy, a MP recovery spell and more MP/Magic Defense along with high Defense, better armor, Saint Cross (for when surrounded) and Holy Blade (for when you just have to deal a lot of damage). Paladin/Devout is unusually complete. The other is: Paladin/Fighter (Fighter for the offensive and Paladin for the defensive); Parivir/Paladin (similar to the Paladin/Fighter setup but a bit more extreme: less defensive capabilities but you can attack with Fire, Ice, Lightning and Holy elements and deal a suitable amount of damage); Hunter/Paladin (not very recommendable, but you can at least use Ultima Shot and Holy Blade from a distance). Blue Mage may seem undesirable but it depends on how many skills you can gain from them: White Wind and Whisper make the Blue Mage a better healer than the White Mage, Dragon Force and Mighty Guard make for a better buffer than the Green Mage, and Guard-Off, Night and similar abilities make for decent debuffing. They do need a solid secondary A-Ability, which makes Blue Mage/Devout a solid combination.
Seeq and Gria: the best class in the game is a Seeq Ranger with Mirror Item, using Phoenix Downs as instant-kill abilities. Seeq Lanista are also pretty good, mixing HP draining, MP draining and some buffing abilities. Gria are less evident in that case, but a Ravager with Raptor A-Abilities is a force to be reckoned. Gria Hunter is mostly like a Hume Hunter (complete with Ultima Shot) and the Geomancer is sort of like a Ninja in terms of what it does; very situational as well. You can spend your entire game ignoring Gria if you like, but at least a Seeq Ranger is recommended.
Other recommendations: if you want items, you should have a Bangaa with the gambler class and a Seeq Viking. They can steal weapons, helmets, armor and items; couple with a Hume or Moogle Thief and you can steal pretty much anything of interest from anyone. Viera Red Mage/Summoner is a strong combination, since Summons can be Doublecast; Red Mage/Shaman (Elementalist?) is also a reasonable combo since the latter's A-Ability can also be Doublecast. Luso is best as a Paladin: not because it's my favorite class (in any game, to boot), but because Paladin, as seen above, mingles with pretty much anything. A Bangaa Templar or two are also great options, and a Bangaa Master/White Monk is an investment you won't mind doing.
@"Balancing": I'd say the contrary. Some of the well-known combos (Viera Assassin + Concentrate) are gone, as well as lesser known combos (Bishop w/Healing Rod + Templar's Soul Sphere = MP battery), but some classes sadly remain (Morpher is gone, but the Gadgeteer/Tinker remains, and that is a really pointless class IMO). Hume and Bangaa got the jackpot in new classes: Viera has a good status/buffing class (Green Mage) and a pointless class (Spellblade); Nu Mou dropped Morpher but the spell-based classes are a bit meh (Arcanist is kinda cool, Scholar is bizarre); Moogles got the shorter end of the stick (Chocobo Knight is a kick to the nads, Fusilier/Flintlock is better but you must be in the class for the A-Abilities to work at all), while Hume classes are jaw-dropping (Parivir is awesome and Devout is perhaps one of the best classes of Humes, period) and Bangaas got two of three wonderful classes (Master and White Monk are meant for each other, Cannoneer requires you to stay in the class and doesn't mingle well but mixed with Warrior you have a brutally good stat-decreasing class and the gambler class [Trickster?] makes the Bangaa have both a ranged attack, loads of status effects, high speed and decent Magic Attack).
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