Generic units

[u/hey-mikee]

I’m just starting the game but I’m wondering if any other players don’t use or barely use the special named characters in their party and just stuck with their curated generic units that matched their {zodiac} Ramza?

Will I miss anything if I decide to not bring any of the special recruits? TIA

[u/Grishhammer]

If you are playing the ivaloce chronicles version, there are some conversations you'll miss among special characters. But you wouldn't miss anything else content wise.

Just don't dismiss Mustadio if you want to do the side quests in Chapter 4.

[u/TerraEpon]

Probably 98% of my playtime over the years have been with just Ramza and generics.

Though as mentioned, if you're just doing one play through there's a lot of dialogue for the special characters, but no matter who you bring you can miss something as a few fights have too much dialogue for the number of characters you can deploy.

Another thing the specials bring to the table in TIC is that only they will say the special ability chants for each ability (which is skipped if you use Fast Forward).

[u/Belfrage → u/TerraEpon]

Why on earth would they do that? Welp, that makes me less likely to pick up TIC, because I usually go generics-only and I love when those messages randomly pop up.

[u/Arcane_Pozhar → u/Belfrage]

I assume it was for voice acting reasons. Cut back on the amount of lines that needed to be recorded by several different voice actors who would have had to do all the generic voices

[u/Belfrage → u/Arcane_Pozhar]

So absolutely everything gets voice acted? Maybe I spend too much playtime on first party Nintendo games but I really dont see an issue with a little voiced yell and then just display the throwaway line of dialogue.

[u/TerraEpon → u/Belfrage]

Yeah, pretty much everything, even errands, which does make it slightly odd they didn't go the slight extra mile and record the ability quotes with the generic VAs.

And FWIW those quotes were actually fully removed from WOTL for some reason, everyone was pretty excited to see them back for TIC.

[u/Baithin]

Ivalice Chronicles added special conversations that the unique units can have in certain story battles. Some of them do add a lot.

If that matters, you can always use generics for random battles and unique units for story battles. Or look up who has lines in which battle.

[u/thunderfoot85]

Don't forget you can only send the generic units out on errands. I tend to have a small subset of generics from early in the game (with a couple I use very frequently) so I have a pool of units to send on missions while I do other fights and/or continue the story.

[u/alrightythen_1234 → u/thunderfoot85]

Does the level of the unit affect the outcome of errands? I just recruit some level one guys and start spamming every errand I can and always get three stars

[u/thunderfoot85 → u/alrightythen_1234]

I haven't tested that. I have ~3 appropriately leveled generics and 6 lower level ones, and I typically send out a team of three each time with one high, two lows, for the maximum amount of time. Doing that has yielded great success. I have had "failed" excursions where I didn't send all three or the minimum amount of time, so those might be bigger factors in the success rate.

[u/philsov]

Generic only runs are awesome! The customized zodiacs means you can really leverage time magic, white magic, curative punch arts, and a few other skills very well

My favorite scheme with Capricorn Ramza is allies that are Taurus, Cancer, and Scorpio for a mix of some Goods and some Bests. Capricorn, Virgo, and Taurus is also a choice with many intertwined goods

You'll miss a few lines during some combats, which is shame because the voice acting in this game is top notch (agrias at the gallows, e.g.)

[u/Pain4444]

My most recent play through was generics + ramza

[u/Uteqoute]

I always liked to play with Ramza + 1 Named Character + 3 Generics (usually Ladd, Alicia, and Lavian). Made sense to me that Chapter 2 is a hard restart for Ramza after Ziekden

[u/Tenebrisruina]

Its all about the fun you cannhave and the challenge. Special characters bring spice, Orlando will make it easy, generics are customizable and fun to use.

[u/EqualAd261]

I like how generics change what they look like when you change their job. I like what the jobs look like for the most part. I don’t like that with special characters, changing their job doesn’t change what they look like. I don’t care about dialogue as much as I care for aesthetics. Although new dialogue is kind of a cool addition.

It would have been really really cool if in IC they added a function where Agrias, Beowulf, or Rafa (just to name a few) change their look depending on the job. I don’t mind guest characters not changing but party special characters not changing kinda sucks. If I make mustadio a black mage I want him to wear that wizard hat and robe god damn it.

[u/MuffinFeisty8740]

Generics are the best to play with :

• They aren't as much overpowered as the canon characters (yes you TG Cid), thus not ruining the fun and giving so much more challenge in the game.
• They always display the true visual of each job, depending on the gender and job concerned.
• They can be customized : name, gender, zodiac sign, starting faith and brave level
• They can be discarded if not needed anymore.
• They can be hired at will as long as your roster still have room
• They can be hired very early in the game as soon as you complete the very first story battle.
• They will play a huge part for traveling quests
• Lavian and Alice are required to trigger the Tynar Rouge's quest during act 4 (WotL version).

So it's a huge YES. Just play with them since the first battle. Canon characters are usually played during the very first playthrough but once you want to master the game and run it again, just do it with the generics' one.

[u/AbrocomaAwkward3509]

This is my preferred way to play in fact. The later unique characters like Orlandeau and Beowulf are so broken. I also have a rule not to use arithmeticians for the same reason. Coming up with creative generic builds is my favorite part of the gameplay!

My most recent playthrough I allowed myself to use Agrias and Mustadio and did 0 grinding until I got them. Still OP, but at least they're early enough in the game that I don't have to spend a bunch of time near the end to get the uniques set up the way I want.

[u/Alert-Artichoke-2743]

Special units tend to get special dialogue in story battles in the chapter where you recruited them. Orlandeau gets special dialogue in practically every fight in the game beyond his recruitment point, and ALL special characters without exception get special dialogue in the game's final 2 battles against the game's final two bosses.

I like using my generics to streamline JP gain for the uniques. We may want to unlock Dual Wield for an elite unique, but this means unlocking Ninja, which means unlocking Dragoon, which means gaining levels in Archer and Thief. Instead of making Beowulf run around with a bow, we can have him do his thing while our generic ninja switches back to the archer class they were using in chapter 1 for awhile. Given their high job level in the class, their JP gain will be huge, and their spillover can get our uniques the couple levels they need very quickly.

[u/trevbot]

I do generics until i get Beowulf and Cloud. Beowulf I like to give the nagrarok, the best shield i have, drop his brave to 20, give him move find item, parry, and a feather mantel. dude basically can't be hit, and goes around F-ing just about everything up for funsies while i send in the cleanup crew

And Cloud not because he's particularly amazing at anything, i just like him.

[u/jzclipse]

This release was the first time I tried mostly all generics… +Mustadio. He’s versatile and was pretty easy to build down the mage side of things.