~~~~~~FINAL FANTASY TACTICS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~How to Learn Ultima~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~Version 1.1~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~Copyright 09/04/01, Archmage Zorlock~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~CONTENTS~ --Version History --Introduction --Disclaimers --Pre-battle Preparations --Who to Bring into Battle --Equipment --Abilities --Placement of Characters --The Battle Begins --The Battle Ends --Other Ultimas...? --Plat's Leveling Trick --Questions and Comments --Thanks to... --My Email --My Website --Credits ~VERSION HISTORY~ Version 1.0 (09/04/01) --First version Version 1.1 (09/10/01) --Corrected possible times to learn Ultima --Added "Other Ultimas...?" section ~INTRODUCTION~ The following is a method I came up with for having Ramza learn the Ultima spell. It provides step by step (a.k.a. every single turn) instructions on how to do so. Now, I know some people out there are saying, "Step by step instructions? That sucks all the fun out of the game!" I agree. But there are also some people who simply can’t figure it out and are getting quite frustrated with the whole thing. This method is for those people. This is my first FAQ, so I hope it goes over well. ~DISCLAIMERS~ Before I get into that, though, let’s get all those disclaimers taken care of. This method was created by me. All the information contained in this strategy, as far as the strategy itself goes, originated in my head. If I state information that did NOT originate in my head, credit will be given to whoever DID come up with it. I did not steal work from others; hence, I will not tolerate others stealing work from me. This information is intended for personal use and may not be sold in any form for profit. If you wish to post part or all of this information elsewhere, such as on your own site, you may do so as long as credit is given to me. If I discover this information elsewhere without proper credit given to me, I will ask that it be removed with all possible haste. If this is not done, I will be forced to call upon various spirits of the cyberspace underworld to remove it for you. After doing so they will proceed to destroy you...err...never mind that last part... ~PRE-BATTLE PREPARATIONS~ Anyway, now that that’s out of the way, I’ll explain how to go about learning Ultima. Here's some basic info: --The only character who can learn this type of Ultima (Yes, there's more than one type. See the section titled "Other Ultimas...?" for more info.) is Ramza. --The only way to learn it is to be hit by it and survive. --The only creatures who cast it are (I think) The Assassins and Ultima Demons. The Ultima Demons rarely ever cast Ultima, usually preferring to stick with more powerful spells like Dark Holy and Nano Flare. For this reason, I choose to learn it from the Assassins. There are only two times the Assassins will cast Ultima: either Battle 42, "At the Gate of Limberry Castle," or Battle 43, "Inside of Limberry Castle." This method covers Battle 42, reason being that I prefer to devote all my time in Battle 43 to stealing Elmdor’s Genji Equipment, but that’s another FAQ entirely, one which I may or may not decide to submit. Before you enter Battle 42, be sure to have the following criteria met: --Your battle party should be around level 50. Too low may result in your characters being too slow, thus screwing up the whole plan. Too high may result in the exact opposite, with your characters being too fast, but this isn’t as bad as being too slow. --You must have, at the very least, one Black Costume and one N-Kai Armlet for Ramza. Enough for all your characters is better, but if you’re strapped for cash or you enter the battle before you had a chance to buy enough for everyone, it shouldn’t affect the flow of battle I lay out TOO much. Just make sure you have one of each for Ramza. Their importance is explained later on. ~WHO TO BRING INTO BATTLE~ That said, I’ll discuss who should be brought into battle. Ramza is a given, since he must participate in every storyline battle, but even if he didn’t, he’s the only one who can learn Ultima, so you’d have to bring him anyway... I’ll move on now... Orlandu is good to bring, since, being basically the strongest playable character in the game, he’ll be considered the greatest threat by the enemy and will likely draw most of the attacks. The rest of the party isn’t extremely important, but for the sake of this method, I always bring an ordinary Ninja of either gender. If, by some truly horrible fluke, Orlandu cannot kill an enemy with his attack, the Ninja can usually rush in and finish the job. Agrias is always in the party, as well. She mainly serves as battle fodder in this fight. Mustadio serves the same purpose as Agrias, drawing enemy fire and maybe taking out an Apanda. Note that all the "special" characters (Ramza, Orlandu, Agrias, and Mustadio) should be set at their respective original job classifications. The Ninja...well, if you can’t figure out what job s/he should be set as, you shouldn’t be reading this. ~EQUIPMENT~ As mentioned above, the only vital equipment is the Black Costume and N-Kai Armlet for Ramza, but I always give them to everyone except Agrias, who can equip a Barrette. The reason for these pieces of equipment is to protect against the various status effects caused by Celia and Lede. The Black Costumes will prevent being stopped by Shadow Stitch, while the N-Kai Armlets prevent Charm from the Allure technique. In the case of Agrias, a Barrette will prevent both of these status ailments and then some. If you don’t have a Barrette, just give her a Black Costume and N-Kai Armlet like the others. So, that said, here’s the setup of equipment: Ramza: RH--Any weapon LH--Any shield Head--Any helmet Body--Black Costume Accessory--N-Kai Armlet Orlandu: RH--Excalibur (the speed is necessary) LH--Any shield Head--Any helmet Body--Black Costume Accessory--N-Kai Armlet Agrias: RH--Any weapon LH--Any shield Head--Barrette Body--Any armor (unless no Barrette) Accessory--Any (unless no Barrette) Mustadio: RH--Any weapon LH--Empty Head--Any hat Body--Black Costume Accessory--N-Kai Armlet Ninja: RH--Any weapon LH--Any weapon Head--Any hat Body--Black Costume Accessory--N-Kai Armlet ~ABILITIES~ The abilities aren’t as important as the equipment, so you can basically set it up however you want. The only important thing is for Ramza to have Teleport or Ignore Height. The reason is given later on. For the other characters, Move+1 or higher is suggested as the movement ability. Here’s the setup for abilities: Ramza: Primary--Guts Secondary--Any Reaction--Any Support--Any Movement--Teleport (or Ignore Height) Orlandu: Primary--All Swordskill Secondary--Any Reaction--Any Support--Any Movement--Any Agrias: Primary--Holy Sword Secondary--Any Reaction--Any Support--Any Movement--Any Mustadio: Primary--Snipe Secondary--Any Reaction--Any Support--Any Movement--Any Ninja: Primary--Throw Secondary--Any Reaction--Any Support--Concentrate is suggested, but not necessary Movement--Any ~PLACEMENT OF CHARACTERS~ Place Ramza anywhere, because he'll be moved to a predestined starting spot at the battle's beginning. Place Orlandu in the most bottom-right corner of the available positions. The Ninja goes next to Orlandu. Mustadio behind Orlandu. Agrias next to Mustadio, behind the Ninja. ~THE BATTLE BEGINS~ Here’s where the "step by step" part comes into play. Orlandu should move first. Send him up the cliff toward the nearest Apanda and use a sword spell, most likely Lightning Stab. Now Celia should move. She can't cast Shadow Stitch on Ramza because of the Black Costume he has on, nor can she use Allure because of the N-Kai Armlet. This forces her to cast her only other long-distance attack, Ultima. She charges up for it and moves to her left onto the over-hanging ledge. Lede cannot do anything her first turn. She most often moves toward your other four characters. When the Ninja's turn comes up, send him/her up near Orlandu. If the Lightning Stab failed to kill the Apanda, finish it by throwing a shuriken or something at it. Agrias and Mustadio (or whomever you replaced them with) can do whatever you want them to. They play no vital role. When Ramza's turn comes up, teleport up to where Celia moved, making sure to get right next to her. Attack her, and it should knock her HP down quite a bit, due to her spell charging. MAKE SURE YOU DON‘T KILL HER, THOUGH! Don't knock her to critical status either. The battle ends if you do either one. You shouldn’t have to worry too much about the Apandas. The only one who may cause a problem is the one nearest to Ramza. Sometimes it casts one of its Bio spells on him, but most likely the spell won’t go off before the battle ends. When the other characters' turns come up, just concentrate on the Apandas. Celia should cast Ultima sometime soon, hitting Ramza and herself. A text box will open, asking if you wish to learn Ultima. You can answer that one for yourself, I think. The Ultima cast by Celia shouldn’t damage Ramza much, but it should be enough to either kill Celia or weaken her to critical. Either way, the battle is over, and Ramza now knows Ultima. ~THE BATTLE ENDS~ That’s all there is to it. All in all, the battle takes about 5 minutes. Now, concerning the next battle, I may or may not decide to submit my strategy for stealing Elmdor’s Genji Equipment. It depends on whether or not this Ultima Guide goes over well. But even if it doesn’t, I think my Genji Guide is better developed than this, so I may submit it anyway. ~OTHER ULTIMAS...?~ As I mentioned above, yes, there is more than one Ultima spell. The one Ramza can learn is the smallest type, being only the size of low/mid-level elemental (Fire, Ice, and Bolt) spells. The next largest is the size of low-level summon spells (or high-level elemental spells, whichever you prefer), and is still titled Ultima. Altima the Holy Angel is the only creature who casts this. The largest type is the size of high-level summon spells and is titled All-Ultima. Altima the Arch Angel is the only creature who casts this ultimate Ultima. So, is it possible to learn these bigger (and better) Ultima spells? I've not confirmed it myself, but several sources indicate that Alma (not Ramza) can learn the 2nd level Ultima that is cast by Altima the Holy Angel. How does she learn it? The same way Ramza learns his Ultima: get hit by it and survive. As to the 3rd level Ultima, All-Ultima, I've neither seen nor heard any evidence that any character, be it Ramza, Alma, or otherwise, can learn it. Still, two Ultimas are better than one, even if only Alma, whom you can't control, can use it, and only in the last couple of battles. It's important to remember that the learning of these higher-level Ultimas has not been tested, at least not by me. The existence of them is true and undeniable, however. As a final note, if anyone reading this has, in fact, learned one or both of the higher-level Ultimas, please email me at the address listed at the end of this guide. ~PLAT'S LEVELING TRICK~ This is something I just thought I'd throw in. It's a special trick on leveling up, discovered by my friend Platdragn, which he kindly allowed me to place here in my guide. So, without further ado, I present "Plat's Leveling Trick!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It has come to my attention that each job class in FFT has certain set gains for each level. That is to say, a Squire will gain a certain amount of HP, whereas a Wizard will gain a different amount, as will a Knight, and so on. While this amount may seem insubstantial, when you notice that each character can gain up to 98 levels in a normal case, the difference can really add up. So how is one to take advantage of this? Remember those little Degenerator traps on certain levels? You can use those to your advantage by leveling down as a class with a bad gain, then back up as a class with a good gain on the stat you want to increase. For example, if you wanted to raise your MP, you could level down as a job that's bad with that stat, like a Lancer, then back up as a class good with the stat, like a Summoner. Now first of all, it's important to note that a class's actual stats when you change from one class to another is NOT an actual gain, but can be an indication of what classes will gain good stats. But to make it easier on everyone, here's what classes gain what best (and, for your knowledge, what classes gain what worst). [-----------------------------------------------------------------------------] [ | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th ] [-----------------------------------------------------------------------------] [HP| Mime| Monk| Knig| Squi| Chem| Summ| Calc| Bard| | | | ] [ | | | Prie| Arch| Wiza| | | Danc| | | | ] [ | | | Geom| Thie| Time| | | | | | | ] [ | | | Lanc| Medi| Orac| | | | | | | ] [ | | | | | Samu| | | | | | | ] [ | | | | | Ninj| | | | | | | ] [-----------------------------------------------------------------------------] [MP| Summ| Wiza| Prie| Geom| Monk| Samu| Squi| Chem| Medi| Bard | Mime | ] [ | | | Time| | Ninj| | Knig| Arch| | Danc | | ] [ | | | Orac| | | | Lanc| Thie| | | | ] [ | | | Calc| | | | | | | | | ] [-----------------------------------------------------------------------------] [PA| Mime| Knig| Ninj| Arch| Monk| Prie| Medi| Squi| Time| Summ | Chem | Bard ] [ | | Lanc| | Geom| | Thie| | Wiza| | Calc | | ] [ | | | | Samu| | Danc| | Orac| | | | ] [-----------------------------------------------------------------------------] [MA| Mime | (All other classes tie for 2nd) ] [-----------------------------------------------------------------------------] [SP| Ninj | Thie | (All other classes tie for 3rd) ] [-----------------------------------------------------------------------------] Thus, you can see that Bard is pretty much the best class to level down as considering it ranks as last in all stats with the exception of MP. Dancer, on the other hand, ranks as sixth in PA, meaning that males are much more effective to level down as. All of the special classes, such as Agrias's Holy Knight class and Mustadio's Engineer class, have astoundingly unremarkable stat gains with the exception of Reis's Dragoner class (which you'll probably want to level up as). Dragoner gets a little more HP than Mimes, about as much MP as a Priest, about as much PA as a Knight, an MA boost equal to a Mime, and a Speed boost equal to a Thief. It's probably better to level Reis up as her Dragoner class, which can wreak some serious havoc with the inherent Two Swords ability, anyway. All other classes (especially Ramza, who gets a penalty to MA gain over all other classes!) should stay as generic jobs. Ways you can lower your characters' levels include: Degenerator traps (Favoham Plains is my favorite place to do this), or by using Monster Skill on an invited Mindflare, which will let it use Level Blast. For both to come around faster, it's suggested you set Guts as Ramza's secondary to use Yell and raise the speed on whatever target you wish. Having Time Magic as a secondary to haste a target is a good idea, too. Here's an example of what this can mean for your characters. Leveling Ramza down as a Bard and back up as a Ninja netted him 143 HP, 40 MP, 7 PA, and 2 Speed. Therefore, you can see that this can pump up your characters immensely, even if it is a bit time-consuming. Enjoy, everyone. And for those of you who actually use cheapo Orlandu, you can make him even more cheap. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There you have it. I don't exactly agree with that part about Orlandu being cheap, but that's not important. Note that he didn't give the exact values that are gained for each level in each stat by each class, but the order of best to worst should be enough. Also note that the chart may extend beyond the window length. It goes out to rank 12, just so you know. ~QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS~ If you have any questions regarding this or any other part of the game, or if you just want to tell me what you thought of this guide, feel free to write me at the address listed at the end of this FAQ. Please note, however, that it may be a while before you get a response, since I’ll be pretty busy keeping up with college stuff. I would suggest checking the other FAQs first. Also note that I will not respond to the following types of mail: --Hate mail --Rude comments about my guide Short list so far, but it may grow bigger if I receive other types of mail that I’d rather not. I WILL accept the following types of mail: --Questions about my guide --Questions about the game --Nice comments about my guide --Polite suggestions on how to improve my guide If I receive a question multiple times from different people, I’ll probably start up a "Frequently Asked Questions" section on the next update. And remember, it may be a while before you get a response. Try to put something in the subject line that has to do with my guide or FFT in general. I’m less likely to think it’s junk mail and delete it that way. ~THANKS TO...~ --Squaresoft, for creating such a fantastic game that keeps me busy for hours on end. --Janus, for giving me the answer I wanted when I asked him whether or not I should submit this guide. --Plat, for allowing me to place his handy dandy leveling trick in this guide. --My mom, for giving me the money to buy the game. --You, for taking your time to read this guide. ~MY EMAIL~ archmagezorlock@aol.com ~MY WEBSITE~ http://chronicler.diaryland.com ~CREDITS~ Copyright 09/04/01, Archmage Zorlock