Final Fantasy Tactics

1. Pocket Ramza’s starting Potion — the Gariland tutorial is scripted; the AI lets you win. Save the Potion for Siedge Weald, where the ambush actually wants you dead.

2. Hire a second body at the Soldier Office — do this before Siedge Weald. Two characters can’t hold the map; you’ll get flanked and permadeath is live from this fight forward.

3. Grind Mandalia Plains once — after Siedge Weald, take one random encounter until Ramza hits Squire job level 2. Unlock Chemist, equip Item on everyone. Potions cost less than Phoenix Downs.

4. Kill cursor memory in Config — default “memory” leaves the cursor on your last-selected unit. Enemies move; you misclick. Set to “off” so the cursor spawns on your active character every turn.

5. Check weapon range before you buy — bows and crossbows have different range values; some can’t fire at adjacent tiles. Stick a bow on your back-row Chemist for safe heals and chip damage.

6. Strip Delita before he walks — Chapter 1 ends with a story battle where Delita leaves permanently. Pull his gear in the formation screen or lose a sword and armor.

7. Teach Accumulate to every physical unit — Squire job level 2. Self-buff that stacks +1 physical attack permanently per use. Most broken ability in the game for the first ten hours.

• Save often and rotate slots — permadeath is real, and story battles can trap you in unwinnable states if your roster is underleveled. The game autosaves before plot fights; if you’re stuck, your only escape is an earlier manual save.

• Accumulate JP early, spend it later — equip skills that boost JP gain (Gained JP Up, Move-Find Item for the EXP/JP boost accessories) and grind random encounters in Chapter 1. Banking 2000+ JP per job before Chapter 2 lets you unlock advanced classes the moment requirements are met.

• Chemists are endgame viable — Item command has no charge time, ignores height, and scales with Brave. A Chemist with Throw Item, Auto-Potion, and X-Potions in inventory can outheal dedicated mages and never runs out of MP.

• Speed is the god stat — turn order in FFT is purely Speed-based. A unit with 12 Speed takes two turns for every one turn a 6-Speed tank gets. Equip Bracer, Sprint Shoes, or the Thief’s innate bonuses; fast units control the battlefield.

• Charge Time = vulnerability window — spells and many abilities have CT (charge time) measured in game ticks. Enemies and allies can move, interrupt, or kill the caster before the skill resolves. Instant abilities (Jump, Throw, Item) or Math Skill (zero CT if calculated correctly) bypass this entirely.

• Proposition success is a dice roll — the tavern’s Errand system uses hidden Job Level + Brave calculations. Send your benchwarmers; proposition failure only costs the days spent, and success yields rare items and permanent Brave/Faith shifts for the dispatched units.

• Faith governs magic damage both ways — high Faith (70+) makes your mages hit harder but also makes them take more magic damage. Low Faith units are magic-resistant but deal weak spells. Adjust Faith via Mediator’s Preach or chapel services depending on role.

Riovanes Castle rooftop (Wiegraf → Velius transformation) — The most brutal trap in the game. You duel Wiegraf solo, then the fight rolls straight into a 1v4 against his Lucavi form with zero chance to save. If Ramza can’t self-sustain — no Chakra, no Auto-Potion, weak Faith for magic defense — you’re soft-locked. The unblock: keep a rotating save before you enter Riovanes in Chapter 3. Make sure Ramza has Chakra (Monk), Blade Grasp or Abandon (Samurai), or Martial Arts with a counter skill. Get him to 700 HP minimum. Already stuck? Load the pre-Riovanes save. The game lets you trap yourself.

Dorter Trade City (second battle) — Ambush map with archers on rooftops and a Black Mage who will erase your generics in one cast. Players who clump get wiped by Bolt 2. The fix: split before you engage. Send a high-Move unit — Thief or Monk — up the left ladder to pressure the casters. Equip someone with a Wizard Staff or Magic Ring so they survive Bolt 2. Kill the Black Mage — if he gets more than two turns, you’re restarting.

Gariland Magic City (tutorial battle after Orbonne) — Delita is a guest and his AI will charge straight into the enemy pack. If he dies, you lose. Don’t follow him. Hold the high ground at your spawn, let enemies come to you, and use Delita as bait while your Chemist with Bow or any Wizard picks off isolated targets. If Delita drops below 20 HP, have a Chemist ready with a Potion — guest units will not heal themselves.

Underleveled party in Chapter 4 — Sidequests vanish and story fights assume you’ve been grinding Propositions or randoms. If Ninjas or Holy Dragons are one-rounding you, retreat to Mandalia Plains or Sweegy Woods. Fight Chemist- or Squire-heavy teams for safe, sustainable XP. Chase levels, not JP. A level 28 Squire survives longer than a level 18 Calculator.