[All About Linking]
In the original Final Fantasy Tactics for the Playstation, I remember
desperately wanting to link up two of the old Playstation models and battle a
friend, team-up and tackle some of the harder missions, or trade over items
that someone else could use. Now that I'm older and understand a lot more about
games in general, I see a few of the reasons that Final Fantasy Tactics (which
we'll just label 'FFT') didn't have any linking capabilities.
1) A higher maximum level. There's a chance for a larger gap, where someone
could be at level 99, where another person could be at 15, 20, 30, etc. If
there's a difference of at least 20 levels, then it's safe to assume the player
who's levels are higher is going to win. This only applies to a duel mode,
though.
2) An expensive, hard-to-manage setup. There would have to be two
Playstations, two TVs, two copies of FFT, a hard-to-find (even back then, I
had trouble getting one) linking cable. Even then, you'd have to have a memory
card and a few hours set aside to be able to link up with someone in your
league.
3) It's not as popular as you think. I don't want to admit it, but FFT is
looked-over and is in the shadow of Final Fantasy 7, and the others. It
took a while for the game to be released as a "Greatest Hits", and even then,
most message boards and Final Fantasy related sites only cover 7 - 10.
(10-2 recently came out, so we'll just assume 10-2 is included when I say
'7 - 10'.)
4) FFT was rushed for a US release. This ties in with #3. In the japanese
version of the game, there were parts of FFT taken out for a rushed
release. The generic character classes would say a designated line when you
pressed Select and then the Confirm button on their name. In the American
release, it's just "...". There's also rumored (I can't confirm) that
there's a text-based adventure in one of the books you receive as an item from
a job. And lastly, we lost the sound-test mode. A shame.
Don't let what I said above fool you; FFT has a very large fanbase and is one
of the most popular strategy-simulation games on the Playstation. Fans have
been screaming for Squaresoft (now SquareEnix) to come out with a sequel for a
long time. I think everyone was shocked to hear that the follow-up title would
be on the GBA, and not on the Playstation 2 (which has been dominating the
console market for a while now). One of the reasons SquareEnix decided to place
the title on the GBA, besides the fact that Square and Nintendo were in talks
again, was because of cost. Think about it; not every house in the world has
two TVs or two Playstation 2s. Not only does it save you money, but it costs
SquareEnix less to have their product on the GBA than on the Playstation 2.
Now that there's a way to link with someone else who has FFTA, let's figure out
just how to do it. You'll need a few things, first of which is an extra copy of
the game and an extra GBA. You'll also need a link cable to connect with
someone else. Once you've aquired all of those (or has a friend who has a
GBA/FFTA), then you're ready to link up.
Links where you can find examples:
http://nintendo.com/gamemini?gameid=m-Game-0000-1533 - FFTA
http://nintendo.com/systemsgba - GBA
http://nintendo.com/accessoriesgba - Link Cable
Remember:
You have to keep in mind that you must have the abilitiy to link to another
clan. You can't start a new file and simply trade over your old units and
items, either. There's a fee of 5,000 from your clan funds each time you trade
an item/unit. There's no fee on doing the team-up missions, though.
[How to Link/Trade]
Alright, now let's get down to buisness. First things first - how do I link up
with someone else? You have to complete Mission 003, "The Cheetas", and then
read the rumor named "!Linking" in any of the pubs. Once you've got that under
your belt, you'll receive the command "Link" when you press Start for the Main
Menu. Simple, eh?
Once you access the Link command, the pubmaster will greet you, and ask you if
you're "here to do some linking". He'll also remind you that once you
trade/link up that your game is saved, so that you can't duplicate items that
easy. I'll get into that later. Once you finish that, you'll see four commands.
They're listed as follows, and I'll describe each below. ("Leave" should be
self-explainitory.)
[Team Up]
This is where you'll join forces with another player and tackle 6 missions
(more once you beat the game) together. Three of them are co-op, where you and
your ally will have to take turn attacking the main boss. Three of them are a
race for each player to gain the most KOs, and the other three are secret
character missions, where you'll go against Ezel, Babus, Ritz, and the like.
I'll go ahead and tell you a few things about linking up, so pay attention. You
can't capture monsters, and you can't steal from the other player. You can
steal from the secret characters you go against, though, and this is the only
way to obtain a certain weapon. I'll leave that to you to figure out what it is.
There's also a reward for either the person who gets the most KOs in
Counter-Op, or both people in Co-Op. It's the one item of that type that can be
powered up to a point. The Sequence is a Knightsword, the Sapere Aude is a Rod,
and the Acacia Hat is a Hat.
Co-Op: Work together with the other player
Counter-Op: Work against the other player for more KOs
[Trade Items]
This is where you'll be spending most of your time, if you're like myself. I'm
a perfectionist, and ever since having a 3,000 hour file in FFT, I've gone out
of my way to make sure I get every item in the game. Since I had an old file
before I started my new one (for setting up the map), I traded a lot of the
one-time-only items (Masamune 100, Ninja Tabi, Magic Robe) onto my new one.
Once you select this option, the pubmaster will tell you he's looking for
someone to trade with. When he finds another clan, he'll announce their name,
and then you'll be given three options from here.
Equipped: Any items you can equip onto a character can be traded here. You're
taken to the same screen you see when you go to a shop, and you pick an item to
trade.
Mission Item: To complete some of the reserve missions, you'll get your hands
on certain items at random. An example would be "My Mission", in which you'll
need either a Gold Vessel and an Eldagusto or a Vermillion and an Eldagusto. If
you get a Gold Vessel, then you'll need a Vermillion, and vise versa. You'd use
this command to trade mission items.
Law Cards: The name says it all. You trade Law Cards through here.
You select one of these options, then select an item, and wait for the other
player to do the same. Once you both select something and pay the 5,000 gil,
your game is saved and the pubmaster tells you what you receive. It's that easy!
[Trade Units]
There's really nothing to explain here. You select one of the generic units
you've got, and then he/she's traded over. The character who the other player
sends you goes in the slot your character was in, and takes that number. Some
things to note: You can't trade any of the story characters, (Ritz, Shara,
etc.), but you can trade some of the generic secret characters (Eldena, Lini,
etc). Any equipped items the character had on will be put back into your
inventory - I'm sure this is done so players can't avoid the 5,000 gil fee and
trade over 5 items for the price of one. I don't see the point in restricting
connectivity, but I guess Nintendo does..
[Nono's Shop]
When you reach a certain point in the game, you'll meet Nono, Montblanc's
little brother. When you complete the mission he asks you to, you'll go through
a cut-scene where he explains that he's going to turn his busted airship into a
Merchant Ship to help pay for the repairs. Now, everytime you link with someone
else, Nono will re-stock a list of 5 randomly selected items, with sometimes
confusing names. Let me break it down into an example: When you link (you don't
have to trade anything; just cancel out when it asks you to select "Equipped",
"Mission Item", "Law Cards"), Nono randomly has 5 items added to his shop.
These items have names like "Sharp Blade" and "Rusty Helm" so you'll never know
what you're getting until you get it. The beauty in this is that the item is
rare - that's also it's greatest flaw. Sometimes you'll end up paying 3,000 gil
for a potion, but you'll also end up paying 5,000 gil for a Genji Helmet. It's
totally random. Below is a list of the item's names, so you know what you're
getting.
Notice: Clothing and Armor are called the same thing by Nono, so I just left
those out.
[Weapons]
|=======================================|
|What Nono calls it || What it really is|
|===================||==================|
|"Metal" || Mythril Weapon |
|===================||==================|
|"Sword" || Sword |
|===================||==================|
|"Sharp Sword" || Blade |
|===================||==================|
|"Bent Sword" || Saber |
|===================||==================|
|"Rusty Sword" || Knightsword |
|===================||==================|
|"Heavy Sword" || Broadsword |
|===================||==================|
|"Knife" || Knife |
|===================||==================|
|"Thin Sword" || Rapier |
|===================||==================|
|"Blade" || Katana |
|===================||==================|
|"Old Staff" || Staff |
|===================||==================|
|"Rod" || Rod |
|===================||==================|
|"Heavy Club" || Mace |
|===================||==================|
|"Bow" || Bow |
|===================||==================|
|"Big Bow" || Greatbow |
|===================||==================|
|"Spear" || Spear |
|===================||==================|
|"Instrument" || Instrument |
|===================||==================|
|"Gloves" || Knuckles |
|===================||==================|
|"Bauble" || Soul |
|===================||==================|
|"Rusty Gun" || Gun |
|===================||==================|
[Headwear]
|=======================================|
|What Nono calls it || What it really is|
|===================||==================|
|"Rusty Helm" || Helmet |
|===================||==================|
|"Old Cap" || Hat, Ribbon* |
|===================||==================|
*Only Viera can wear Ribbons
[Acessories]
|========================================|
|What Nono calls it || What it really is |
|===================||===================|
|"Trinket" || Accessory |
|===================||===================|
|"Gauntlet" || Armlet |
|===================||===================|
|"Boots" || Shoes |
|===================||===================|
Remember: Anything that you can only get one of, I.E. the Masamune 100,
Excalibur2, Ninja Tabi, you can't get from Nono's shop. You have to trade with
another file to get more of those.
[Duplication Trick]
If you haven't figured it out already, there's a way to duplicate any item you
want. It requires the use of both save files, and the ability to link with
someone. Just save on both save slots, then trade the item you want duplicated
to the other person. Load the opposite file (the one with the item you traded
over), and then have your friend trade you back the same item. You can do this
an infinite amount of times, assuming you have the funds for it.
Want to know more about other games? Click Here!
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