You still alive?

I did the same thing when Pokemon Diamond came out. I was disappointed to discover that it's basically the same game it was fifteen years ago. Took me quite a while to sit down and beat it as a result.

It's actually the Monk's First Strike ability (I've always made my Ramzas a Monk for over a decade now), but the Samurai's reaction ability also works quite well. And yes, messing with Ramza's Bravery and Faith is always a good idea, because he is the only character who will never leave your party.

And I don't know if it was you, but as I've explained several times to other people playing Final Fantasy Tactics: Unless you're using a Calculator/Arithmetician, spellcasters are too weak in comparison to the direct-damage classes. They're too fragile, their best spells consume too much of their mana, which is too costly to restore, and they frequently die before their casts get a chance to go off. This is especially true for White Mages. Stick with Chemists for your healing needs... and if you bring enough power to bear, you won't need healing at all.

FFT goes a lot better if you ignore all the little minutiae, like the stat differences between genders and the Zodiac Alignment system. I've never found either one to have enough of an impact to matter at all. Learning how Bravery and Faith affect your abilities is another story, however... can you say "Unhittable Ramza"?

Different culture. People see you playing a 3DS and think, "Pfft, why's he still playing with a gameboy, at his age." Head on over to Japan and businessmen can read comic books on the subway and nobody gives them a second glance.

With things like the StreetPass and the DS' numerous swapping schemes... sometimes I get the impression Nintendo doesn't get that the US is nothing like Japan in terms of the number of people who have handheld consoles and go everywhere with them.

The whole game was pretty bad. The endgame just reinforces the point.

DQVIII BECAUSE OF BAKLAAG?

It's easily the best RPG on the PS2. I totally judge you for having not beat it yet.

I actually knew that, I just thought it was appropriate that they were actually having you look for one in the main questline instead of the end of one of the guild sidequests.

OH I thought so! Thanks!