Dedicated to milkycigarette!
I’ve noticed something: everyone wants tips, but no one seems to make a post giving them. I’d thought I’d take some time to share with you a tip that I’ve learned from an LP’er. It pretty much covers one of the most frustrating battles in Final Fantasy Tactics, the Wiegraf-Marquis combo. Well, this website made this battle one of the easiest in the entire game – like magic! So then, let’s go over it shall we? I don’t take credit for this strategy, and I had to look it up myself. But let me be your messenger the awesome solution to the most perplexing battle in ALL OF FINAL FANTASY TACTICS!!!!
Part 1: The Gates of Riovanes Castle
All you need to do is survive long enough to defeat all of the enemies. Watch out for the archers, take out the knights first and proceed to scream inside of the castle…
Part 2: The Inside of Riovanes Castle
So first, make sure that Ramza learns float or has a pair of Feather Boots. Next, put the Chameleon Robe on Ramza. Make sure Ramza is a Squire or at least have these abilities. Giving him the access to auto-potion or Martial Arts for secondary abilities. Now, after you place your friends on the board, you can start!
Remember when Wiegraf would start the battle with Lightning Stab. He won’t do it here! That’s because Lightning Stab is a Holy attack, and the Chameleon Robe absorbs Holy! Wiegraf is smart enough not to heal you. Now he’ll either use Wave Fist and Earth Slash on you. Two monk abilities. Since Ramza is floating, the latter won’t affect him. So the only thing Wiegraf can do to possibly damage you is Wave Fist. And Wave Fist does very little damage. Auto-potion or monk abilities can heal any other damage.
So you could probably heal indefinitely. What now? You do three things:
- Run away.
- Tailwind (Yell).
- Focus (Accumulate).
Run away.
You use tailwind (yell) to boost your CT speed, enabling you to take as many turns are you would like. You use focus (accumulate) to increase your physical attacking power. How long should you do this for? Maybe for half an hour? Maybe until your speed and power at +50? It’s up to you. When it feels right, you’ll know it’s time.
I like this battle with this new technique even more than the first time because it adds to the story. This battle shows who Ramza is. He’s a kid fighting against a demon infused adult. He yells and runs for his life. He’s yelling because he’s afraid. What is he yelling? Anything, maybe even “help!” as he’s calling for his friends. He’s also providing a distraction to Wiegraf, biding time. Of course, he finally gains the courage and strength to take on the Wiegraf.
Also, notice this awesome dialogue (from the PlayStation version if the War of the Lions translation is too much):
Ramza: The legends we believed in were all lies!
Wiegraf: Hya, ha, ha. So much for ‘God’s miracle’. Governments falsify history only so it favors them. But you can’t blame them. Because people always hope for a ‘miracle’. Endlessly complaining, lazy, nuisances… that’s what the masses really are. Governments give the people what they want…and history repeats itself. Governments might well have taken advantage of their insecurity…. But then again, people are satisfied being used… ‘God’ is nothing but an image created out of their insecurity. It’s their fault for knowing they’re comfortably numb, and not doing anything about it.
Ramza: And what about you? Relying on miracles instead of beating your insecurities!
Wiegraf: It’s because humans are insecure that they rely on ‘miracles’. Can you honestly say you’re not, with any confidence?
Ramza: I’m trying!
Wiegraf: Then your efforts have come to an end!
And your efforts have, at the expense of Wiegraf. But hold on. Soon, Wiegraf turns into the Lucavi Velius and brings some of his friends with him. And they’re all evil, of course. The use Dark Holy and have a surprisingly short CT to cast them. I remember trying desperately to keep my summoner alive long enough to summon Lich (who works well against undead foes) twice to defeat as many of the demons as possible. Now, I don’t have too. Ramza should…
- take multiple turns (thanks to yell),
- one shot all of the Lucavi (thanks to accumulate)!
Because that’s what Ramza wants. It doesn’t have to be any longer than it needs to be. All the Lucavi demons are going to cheat anyways, why put up with them. Plus, you still have your honour, why toy with them? You don’t want to give these cheap demons any more attention. You want this to be over. And it is. Velius, and his mind, explodes from confusion that a mere human could defeat him.
THE END!
Or is it?
Part 3: The Rooftops of Riovanes Castle
Except it’s not. You’ve encountered one of the most difficult battles of Ramza’s life. Now, you walk in on a horrible negotiation gone wrong. You can just feel that another battle is going to take place. And it does, this time with Sephiroth Marquis Elmdor, the pimp pervert.
Rafa can’t think straight. Obviously, she’s charging against Lucavi infused humans with superpowers incomprehensible to anyone there. But you have to protect Rafa by defeating them. Damaging either Marquis Elmdor, Lede and Celia to critical status will end the battle, so that’s your only solace.
Before you start the battle, make sure that each character equips armor that raises their speed. Now beat Rafa to the Marquis. So he doesn’t kill her. In fact, if Ramza dies, Rafa takes cover. That solves one of your problems.
I’d not take on the Marquis, but go for one of the assassins instead. Equip an accessory that prevents stop because they’ll hit you with Shadow Stitch, which stops you. They also have petrification, instant death and the ability to charm you. By the way…being assassins, they fight like ninjas, which means they’ll hit you twice. Celia has Earth clothes, so Earth Slash may not work. Lede doesn’t, and has less HP…
What you need is speed, movement (equip boots for this purpose) and someone who can hit hard. A magic user or summoner may work well in this case. Just keep Rafa away from the Marquis. She may even help out by doing the rational thing – attacking from afar. This battle is testing, but significantly less difficult than the previous.
And there you have it. If you can beat these battles, you’ll have the confidence to take on many others. Thanks for reading and I’m glad to have an outlet to share this strategy tip. Hopefully, it helps many others on this sub 😀