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Top Ten Worst FFTA Abilities!
10 years ago
General
This is a message from your friendly neighborhood Nomcario, so pay attention: You might actually hear something of relative interest!
Huh? I'm doing another Top Ten in a journal? Yeah I am <w< This actually got inspired to me today, I was thinking about how much I actually enjoy seeing Final Fantasy stuff. and I have a few games under my belt, specifically Final Fantasy IV DS, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and its sequel Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift.
Still I bet you're confused asking "Huh? Why are you making this kind of list then and for one game?" And the answer is "If I did a 'Top Ten Worst Final Fantasy Abilities' list, I'd have to research a LOT of FF content, and I ain't got time for that so there. =P"
Now a few things before I delve into this list, it IS solely based on my opinion, so I don't wanna hear any complaints about "But what about _________ ability and __________ ability?!" No, I will immediately hide your comment if you post something like that >.>
Second, while there might be some abilities that could be worse than mine, and trust me there are, this is just what I feel are the worst of the bunch. Feel free to suggest your own worst abilities from the game if you've played it yourself! That being said? Let's get started, welcome to the FurryShapeshifter's Top 10 Worst FFTA Abilities! *and roll credits! nah j/k*
Coming in at #10 we have an immediate ability tie between the Hume soldier's Mug ability, and the Hume and Moogle Thief's Steal: Gil abilities! steal: gil basically does that: steals a few hundred gil from your target, while mug damages your enemy and steals about up to 30-40 gil. not that great, but pretty decent early game as you're strapped for cash, especially if you plan your party in advance as I did the last time I played the game.
Later on though you'll want to just ignore using it altogether since you'll be rolling in tens if not hundreds of thousands of gil at the later points of the game, so it's best used early on, oh and you can't even get mug till later anyway unless you steal a diamond sword with steal: weapon early enough, though good luck with that, mug's not worth it. =P
Rolling into #9 we have the Hume Ninja's Throw ability. Now let me ask any of you who've played FFTA: Have you ever consistently bought powerful items to chuck them at your foes for what might not even be 100 damage in the late game? I haven't, there's no reason to! Ninjas are considered among the best job class in the entire game, and with the godly reason of having access to the mighty Double Sword support ability, one of the best supportive skills a hume can have.
And while the Ninja's veil abilities are weak as piss, their secondary effects are quite nice, what with wood veil's immobilizing properties, or earth veil's slow addon, weak, but good for inflicting various statuses, don't throw your precious inventory unless you're curious what hurts the most and have money to burn.
At the #8 spot we have a three-way-tie between the Hume Fighter and Bangaa Gladiator's Wild Swing, the Bangaa White Monk's Whirlwind and the Viera Fencer's Swallowtail, all of which deal damage to adjacent units all around. Now let's be serious, having A.O.E. (Area Of Effect) damage is nice, but not in small snippets like this, and even if you're surrounded? You're better off using the fighter or gladiator's Rush to knock someone aside.
Heck if your fencer has some magic on her and has an elemental robe, try casting that element, like thunder, or ramuh if you're using a summoner. It'll be much better than doing miniscule amounts of damage.
Shooting its way to the #7 slot we have the Viera Sniper's Aim: Wallet ability. While some would argue this probably deserves to be slapped in the same spot as mug and steal: gil, I have my reasons for putting it this high. Snipers are a pretty deadly marksman-esque class for the bunny-people of Ivailice, having the potent Beso Toxico for dealing damage and inflicting poison, or even destroying an enemy's armor or weapon.
Aim: Wallet however is a later-game ability and it just does the same thing as Steal: Gil! So honestly it's not really that worth it in the long run, you're better off just attacking, or even using Doubleshot if you need to do something.
Spiriting into #6 we have the Viera Elementalist's.. Well.. Elementalshift. Now I bet some of you probably never saw this ability in your playthroughs, well the weapon you learn it from, the Epeprism, is a pretty rare rapier weapon, and second, it is entirely pointless.
Why? It essentially changes what elemental resistances your enemies have, like one that's weak to fire might now become weak to ice, or water, so on and so forth. Elementalshift is kinda useless though, if you're going to use potent elemental magic or attacks, use the enemy's weakness or whatever's strongest! Don't cop out with this gimmick-y spell.
Ohhh lordy lord the top five, and coming in at #5 is the Monkey Grip support ability for Humes and Bangaa. MG, MG, MG... Why must you be so irrelevant? Essentially this support skill allows you to wield 2-handed weapons, i.e. greatswords and broadswords, in 1 hand. The ONLY reason you'd do this, is to equip a shield on that character, and I almost considered putting the Shieldbearer ability on here in this spot and knock MG up.
I didn't. Why? Because while SB isn't great, it's a nice placeholder support, and with the flame, ice and lightning shields as well as aegis shield, you've got some coverage and elemental resistance and absorbency. Sure it's not as great as Double Sword or, heaven forbid, Concentrate, but really, it's better than freaking MONKEY GRIP.
Juggling.. Okay I'll stop with the job class puns >w> Anyway, at the #4 spot is the Moogle Juggler's Gil Toss. I'll be honest right here and now, this ability just sucks, and might be a contender for the number one spot, but as with my other picks I have my reasons for putting it this low. it CAN be useful if you're using an all-physical/melee party and have no magic users to deal with Flans, Toughskins or Blade Biters.
The downside is just that, it's -only- useful for those situations, that and burning 30 gil each time to do 30 damage. I've seen Gil Toss done better in other FF games, of note being the Gil Toss Materia in FFVII <.< to name an example, but here? It just suuuuuucks.
Into the top trio, the #3 spot goes to the Hume, Nu Mou, and Moogle Black Mage's Geomancy support skill. ohh Geomancy, why you so useless? What it basically does is take your opponent's ele-res, and alter their resistance to it, so if they're strong against it, they take slightly more damage. if they're immune they take little damage, and if they absorb it you just do zero damage.
Question: Why the hell would you want that? I'm ashamed of myself for putting Geomancy on Montblanc the first two times I played through FFTA, as Concentrate is an absolute godsend for him and his Black and Time Magic. Geomancy just isn't that good in any situation, I'm sorry.
Into the #2 Spot we again have a 3-way-tie. Between the Hume Hunter's Oust, and Hume Paladin's Parley, as well as the Bangaa Dragoon's Wyrmtamer. You might think at this moment, if you know the game as well as I do: "Hold up, these should be #1! Why aren't they!" 1. MY list, not YOURS. 2. I have another ability in mind that's far, far worse than these three put together.
Let's talk about Parley first. you have to put enemy non-monster combatants at critical HP, and then with this skill, you can convince them to leave the battlefield. It's so stupid. Oust. It's the same conditions, except it applies to monsters. And finally Wyrmtamer. Which is similar to Oust, but works ONLY on dragon monsters, hence the name. Above all that's really useless, but again, there's one ability that trumps all of these as the worst ever. but first, some honorable mentions!
All Control abilities from the Nu Mou's Beastmaster job class. I considered putting at least one of these on here, but realized controlling monsters is FUN~ (And necessary if you're trying to get a few certain abilities from certain monster types for your Blue Mage.. You know the ones if you've wanted all Blue Magic people.. Rassafrassa sprites and titanias..)
Level ? S-Flare, Blowup, Acid, Magic Hammer, Goblin Punch. To be fair some of the Blue Mage's abilities aren't that great and these are prime examples. Blowup's a self-sacrifice, so unless you've got auto-life you need a rez. magic hammer does MP damage but you're better off using Rasp or Soul Sphere. Goblin Punch is random but damned hilarious, and humiliating to die to. acid says it inflicts a random status but never shows it, I imagine it just reduces a stat..? idk, and Level ? S-Flare needs your mage matching the enemy's levels, AND having dark-absorbent equipment on the caster and matched-level allies.
Take Aim/Blitz/Featherblow. Low-damage, but high-accurate attacks. they're actually good for finishing off evasive monsters at critical health (Again. SPRITES AND TITANIAS, F#%$ING HATE THEM! ok I'm good.)
Judge and Judge Sword. You don't often see an enemy gaining JP (Judge Points) so having a Bishop use this, or Judgemaster Cid pulling this out isn't worth your time, but it's far from useless.
And finally Damage > MP (the > stands for 'Convert to' btw). I would say this is a bad reaction ability (NOTICE I HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF THESE YET.) but for a physical unit, and as you get 5 MP regenerated a turn, it's a good way to soak up a powerful hit. But if none of these are bad.. what's the ABSOLUTE WORST?
Well let me tell you here and now! #1 goes to the Reaction Ability for Bangaa Defender: LAST BERSERK! Holy fucking SHIT is this ability worthless! Let me explain to you, for those not in the know, what Berserk actually DOES. It puts you into an enraged state, your attack is boosted, but you have NO control over your unit and all he'll do is attack, attack, attack!
Now this sounds not so bad in practice right? Welp, combine that with a unit that goes berserk at CRITICAL HP! I'm talking 5-10% health left and it triggers. With no way of seeing the danger that unit's in, it will commit SUICIDE. That's right, your Bangaa will become so angry he won't feel the need to preserve his own life, and would rather kill everything in sight until he perishes!
This is especially bad if you're doing a battle in one of the Jagds, where you can NOT, by ANY means, leave anyone dead, or they are dead FOREVER, never to be seen again. I swear to god, it's NOT worth learning for your Defenders or ANY Bangaa! Stay away from this and slap on something else, like Reflex! or Counter! or Strikeback! ANYTHING but Last Berserk!
Whuff..! This has been the FurryShapeshifter. and Last Berserk is by far, the WORST ability ever in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance!
Thanks for reading, and have a good day!
Still I bet you're confused asking "Huh? Why are you making this kind of list then and for one game?" And the answer is "If I did a 'Top Ten Worst Final Fantasy Abilities' list, I'd have to research a LOT of FF content, and I ain't got time for that so there. =P"
Now a few things before I delve into this list, it IS solely based on my opinion, so I don't wanna hear any complaints about "But what about _________ ability and __________ ability?!" No, I will immediately hide your comment if you post something like that >.>
Second, while there might be some abilities that could be worse than mine, and trust me there are, this is just what I feel are the worst of the bunch. Feel free to suggest your own worst abilities from the game if you've played it yourself! That being said? Let's get started, welcome to the FurryShapeshifter's Top 10 Worst FFTA Abilities! *and roll credits! nah j/k*
Coming in at #10 we have an immediate ability tie between the Hume soldier's Mug ability, and the Hume and Moogle Thief's Steal: Gil abilities! steal: gil basically does that: steals a few hundred gil from your target, while mug damages your enemy and steals about up to 30-40 gil. not that great, but pretty decent early game as you're strapped for cash, especially if you plan your party in advance as I did the last time I played the game.
Later on though you'll want to just ignore using it altogether since you'll be rolling in tens if not hundreds of thousands of gil at the later points of the game, so it's best used early on, oh and you can't even get mug till later anyway unless you steal a diamond sword with steal: weapon early enough, though good luck with that, mug's not worth it. =P
Rolling into #9 we have the Hume Ninja's Throw ability. Now let me ask any of you who've played FFTA: Have you ever consistently bought powerful items to chuck them at your foes for what might not even be 100 damage in the late game? I haven't, there's no reason to! Ninjas are considered among the best job class in the entire game, and with the godly reason of having access to the mighty Double Sword support ability, one of the best supportive skills a hume can have.
And while the Ninja's veil abilities are weak as piss, their secondary effects are quite nice, what with wood veil's immobilizing properties, or earth veil's slow addon, weak, but good for inflicting various statuses, don't throw your precious inventory unless you're curious what hurts the most and have money to burn.
At the #8 spot we have a three-way-tie between the Hume Fighter and Bangaa Gladiator's Wild Swing, the Bangaa White Monk's Whirlwind and the Viera Fencer's Swallowtail, all of which deal damage to adjacent units all around. Now let's be serious, having A.O.E. (Area Of Effect) damage is nice, but not in small snippets like this, and even if you're surrounded? You're better off using the fighter or gladiator's Rush to knock someone aside.
Heck if your fencer has some magic on her and has an elemental robe, try casting that element, like thunder, or ramuh if you're using a summoner. It'll be much better than doing miniscule amounts of damage.
Shooting its way to the #7 slot we have the Viera Sniper's Aim: Wallet ability. While some would argue this probably deserves to be slapped in the same spot as mug and steal: gil, I have my reasons for putting it this high. Snipers are a pretty deadly marksman-esque class for the bunny-people of Ivailice, having the potent Beso Toxico for dealing damage and inflicting poison, or even destroying an enemy's armor or weapon.
Aim: Wallet however is a later-game ability and it just does the same thing as Steal: Gil! So honestly it's not really that worth it in the long run, you're better off just attacking, or even using Doubleshot if you need to do something.
Spiriting into #6 we have the Viera Elementalist's.. Well.. Elementalshift. Now I bet some of you probably never saw this ability in your playthroughs, well the weapon you learn it from, the Epeprism, is a pretty rare rapier weapon, and second, it is entirely pointless.
Why? It essentially changes what elemental resistances your enemies have, like one that's weak to fire might now become weak to ice, or water, so on and so forth. Elementalshift is kinda useless though, if you're going to use potent elemental magic or attacks, use the enemy's weakness or whatever's strongest! Don't cop out with this gimmick-y spell.
Ohhh lordy lord the top five, and coming in at #5 is the Monkey Grip support ability for Humes and Bangaa. MG, MG, MG... Why must you be so irrelevant? Essentially this support skill allows you to wield 2-handed weapons, i.e. greatswords and broadswords, in 1 hand. The ONLY reason you'd do this, is to equip a shield on that character, and I almost considered putting the Shieldbearer ability on here in this spot and knock MG up.
I didn't. Why? Because while SB isn't great, it's a nice placeholder support, and with the flame, ice and lightning shields as well as aegis shield, you've got some coverage and elemental resistance and absorbency. Sure it's not as great as Double Sword or, heaven forbid, Concentrate, but really, it's better than freaking MONKEY GRIP.
Juggling.. Okay I'll stop with the job class puns >w> Anyway, at the #4 spot is the Moogle Juggler's Gil Toss. I'll be honest right here and now, this ability just sucks, and might be a contender for the number one spot, but as with my other picks I have my reasons for putting it this low. it CAN be useful if you're using an all-physical/melee party and have no magic users to deal with Flans, Toughskins or Blade Biters.
The downside is just that, it's -only- useful for those situations, that and burning 30 gil each time to do 30 damage. I've seen Gil Toss done better in other FF games, of note being the Gil Toss Materia in FFVII <.< to name an example, but here? It just suuuuuucks.
Into the top trio, the #3 spot goes to the Hume, Nu Mou, and Moogle Black Mage's Geomancy support skill. ohh Geomancy, why you so useless? What it basically does is take your opponent's ele-res, and alter their resistance to it, so if they're strong against it, they take slightly more damage. if they're immune they take little damage, and if they absorb it you just do zero damage.
Question: Why the hell would you want that? I'm ashamed of myself for putting Geomancy on Montblanc the first two times I played through FFTA, as Concentrate is an absolute godsend for him and his Black and Time Magic. Geomancy just isn't that good in any situation, I'm sorry.
Into the #2 Spot we again have a 3-way-tie. Between the Hume Hunter's Oust, and Hume Paladin's Parley, as well as the Bangaa Dragoon's Wyrmtamer. You might think at this moment, if you know the game as well as I do: "Hold up, these should be #1! Why aren't they!" 1. MY list, not YOURS. 2. I have another ability in mind that's far, far worse than these three put together.
Let's talk about Parley first. you have to put enemy non-monster combatants at critical HP, and then with this skill, you can convince them to leave the battlefield. It's so stupid. Oust. It's the same conditions, except it applies to monsters. And finally Wyrmtamer. Which is similar to Oust, but works ONLY on dragon monsters, hence the name. Above all that's really useless, but again, there's one ability that trumps all of these as the worst ever. but first, some honorable mentions!
All Control abilities from the Nu Mou's Beastmaster job class. I considered putting at least one of these on here, but realized controlling monsters is FUN~ (And necessary if you're trying to get a few certain abilities from certain monster types for your Blue Mage.. You know the ones if you've wanted all Blue Magic people.. Rassafrassa sprites and titanias..)
Level ? S-Flare, Blowup, Acid, Magic Hammer, Goblin Punch. To be fair some of the Blue Mage's abilities aren't that great and these are prime examples. Blowup's a self-sacrifice, so unless you've got auto-life you need a rez. magic hammer does MP damage but you're better off using Rasp or Soul Sphere. Goblin Punch is random but damned hilarious, and humiliating to die to. acid says it inflicts a random status but never shows it, I imagine it just reduces a stat..? idk, and Level ? S-Flare needs your mage matching the enemy's levels, AND having dark-absorbent equipment on the caster and matched-level allies.
Take Aim/Blitz/Featherblow. Low-damage, but high-accurate attacks. they're actually good for finishing off evasive monsters at critical health (Again. SPRITES AND TITANIAS, F#%$ING HATE THEM! ok I'm good.)
Judge and Judge Sword. You don't often see an enemy gaining JP (Judge Points) so having a Bishop use this, or Judgemaster Cid pulling this out isn't worth your time, but it's far from useless.
And finally Damage > MP (the > stands for 'Convert to' btw). I would say this is a bad reaction ability (NOTICE I HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF THESE YET.) but for a physical unit, and as you get 5 MP regenerated a turn, it's a good way to soak up a powerful hit. But if none of these are bad.. what's the ABSOLUTE WORST?
Well let me tell you here and now! #1 goes to the Reaction Ability for Bangaa Defender: LAST BERSERK! Holy fucking SHIT is this ability worthless! Let me explain to you, for those not in the know, what Berserk actually DOES. It puts you into an enraged state, your attack is boosted, but you have NO control over your unit and all he'll do is attack, attack, attack!
Now this sounds not so bad in practice right? Welp, combine that with a unit that goes berserk at CRITICAL HP! I'm talking 5-10% health left and it triggers. With no way of seeing the danger that unit's in, it will commit SUICIDE. That's right, your Bangaa will become so angry he won't feel the need to preserve his own life, and would rather kill everything in sight until he perishes!
This is especially bad if you're doing a battle in one of the Jagds, where you can NOT, by ANY means, leave anyone dead, or they are dead FOREVER, never to be seen again. I swear to god, it's NOT worth learning for your Defenders or ANY Bangaa! Stay away from this and slap on something else, like Reflex! or Counter! or Strikeback! ANYTHING but Last Berserk!
Whuff..! This has been the FurryShapeshifter. and Last Berserk is by far, the WORST ability ever in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance!
Thanks for reading, and have a good day!
And I agree with you on these abilities.
When I was young and naive, I thought I could use oust like a king, but then with my grindy nature, I killed far too many enemies and the more you kill, the lower the chances of oust as well as with the HP of the monster. But if that character kills 50+ monsters, then oust will never work again, it's dumb. It would make more logic sense to increase the ability as you kill, since monsters would fear you xD
But I am wondering about something. Should I put auto regen on my sniper or keep blocking arrows? I found out that blocking arrows is pretty useful as it blocks any harmfulm aim, hunt or sharpshoot ability, but auto regen sounds quite nice as well.
Secondly? Auto-Regen is a better Reaction than Block Arrows. Having that bit of heal at the start of the Sniper's turn is pretty invaluable into late game.