First, let me start of by welcoming you to your new addiction. I promise that if you are a person who enjoyed Final Fantasy Tactics to the point where the original game is no longer a challenge to you, you will enjoy this mod and all of its variations. If you're new to FFT but just like a good challenge, you will probably enjoy this as well. Either way, if you are a reasonable person, you will love it here and can probably skip this thread entirely.
I'm starting this thread to address some common issues that tend to crop up with the occasional new person that always seems to end the same way, particularly with someone taking offense to someone else having the nerve to tell them that they aren't god's gift to gaming. So to reinforce that none of what I am about to say is personal, I am writing this to no one in particular.
Check your ego at the door
First and foremost, if you are someone who thinks they know everything there is to know about FFT, trust me when I tell you that you don't. It's nothing personal (obviously). It's just that the mechanics of vanilla FFT will never test you enough to gain the detailed understanding of game mechanics that are required to complete 1.3 (smoothly). It just doesn't challenge you enough. Many people on this board, including those who were involved the mod's creation, have been playing and dissecting this game for years and we're all still learning something new from time to time. There is ALWAYS something new to learn about this game.
If you are struggling, post a new thread and people will flock to it to offer advice. There are a lot of veterans here that absolutely know something you don't know, so don't let your ego get in the way of a good learning experience.
The difficulty in this game is not fake/random
The golden rule to this game is that if you have to rely on pure-ass luck to win a battle, then there is absolutely a better strategy out there. This is a verifiable fact. It's not always readily apparent on your first or second playthrough but that's because you're going to spend most of that time learning. This game is balanced for the highest level of play, specifically to make this game still be a significant challenge on your 11th playthrough. Posts from new players saying the difficulty is based on too much luck will generally not be taken seriously.
When you're new, some of these battles will seem like sandbag fests. You will adjust. Some times you will win a battle because you keep resetting until a crucial Don't Act or Charm lands. You will eventually build a team capable of withstanding a few rounds until that crucial ability succeeds. Some of you will feel like you're forced to spend hours grinding JP to get to the higher jobs. You will eventually learn to understand the power of a squire. Eventually, it will be entirely up to you exactly how much luck and/or grinding you want to rely on to win this game.
Spoiler alert: It's been done with virtually none of both.
There is no right way to play, but there are several wrong ways
To clarify this, no one on this board will tell you not to play the game in whatever way you feel like. What I'm saying here is that criticism based on unintended playstyles is not constructive. Once again, since this has come up a few times, people here will offer advice on how best to enjoy this mod the way it was intended to be played. Don't take it as an attack on your individuality. If you want to be extra-super individual about something, that's awesome. We'd love to hear about what's working for you. Just don't bitch about how bad the design of the game is if you're not playing it the way it was intended to be played.
Please, tell us something is impossible. I beg you.
If you've run yourself into a corner and feel like it's impossible to make it through a fight, please, I beg you to rant about how impossible it is. But if you do, please be prepared to upload your save file so someone can prove you wrong within 24 hours.
Or just trust me when I tell you that it's possible and politely ask for assistance. Once again, people on this board will be more than happy to help. Not for a sense of superiority, but simply because we all enjoy a good challenge.
This game is not "too easy"
First off, if you are finding the mod to be too hard, I would highly recommend switching to "Content" to get used to it before starting a legit 1.3 run.
If you are about to come and make a post about how easy the game is and you haven't made it out of chapter 1, just stop. You haven't seen NOTHIN yet. There is a steep learning curve to this game and the storyline battles ramp up accordingly. Some fights might be easy here and there, but complaining about how easy the patch is when you haven't beaten the game is a complete waste of time.
We know what you're doing. You are humblebragging. You see a name like "insane difficulty" and assume that since you beat sweegy wood on the first try that you must be the world most awesome sRPG player that ever lived. No one's buying it. Steal Elmdor's shit on the first try and we'll be impressed.
For reference, if you really do feel as if the battle you are on is too easy, please find it on this chart and compare it to what's coming up:
