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The 4th version of the PvP Patch has a ton of new features and enhancements that ultimately strive to improve your Final Fantasy Tactics multiplayer and single-player experience. This focused article and future ones will hone in on certain major changes so that you can be better informed before the massive changelog is released on patch day.

Practice Mode

The new Practice Mode feature is a rewrite of all the random encounters in Araguay Woods to serve as the best place to practice your new team against NPC teams that are built in mind of the Standard format (previously known as Starter). You can encounter 8 different teams, each led by a unique character that follows the same ruleset convention used in Standard – these fights are a challenge and can down your team if you aren’t careful!

Let’s take a look at each enemy team and how you can encounter them:

• West (from Dorter)
  • Rapha – Chemist, Archer, Thief, Geomancer
  • Delita – Dragoon, Onion Knight, Chemist, Archer
  • Agrias – Time Mage, Knight, Dragoon, Summoner
  • Mustadio – Dark Knight, Samurai, White Mage, Mime
• East (from Fort Besselat)
  • Construct 8 – Bard, Dancer, Dragoon, Monk
  • Cloud – Geomancer, Squire, Archer, Black Mage
  • Valmafra – Orator, Dark Knight, Mystic, Thief
  • Meliadoul – Archer, Geomancer, Ninja, Bard
• Special Encounter (regardless of direction)
  • Alma, Marach, Reis, Beowulf, and Luso

Quality of Life Updates

There are several new additions to the game systems and combat improvements to help with the general “feel” and interaction of Final Fantasy Tactics. A huge shout-out to Tzepish for many of these new changes being integrated into the PvP Patch! Let’s take a deeper dive into each key change:

Unique Characters can now be Renamed at the Warrior’s Guild

In PvP Patch version 3, the feature of being able to rename your generic characters, Ramza, and Construct 8 was well received and added an extra uniqueness to your team. This is being expanded in version 4, where you can now rename any character, including unique characters. Let your imagination run wild, but keep in mind to not be offensive!

Iaido Abilities and Unholy Sacrifice Now Display Their Damage and Status in the Damage Preview

One new addition is that Iaido’s damaging abilities and Darkness’s Unholy Sacrifice will now display their damage and status infliction instead of previously displaying a “00%” hit rate. Note that while this now does show the damage dealt, this value is based on the caster’s mitigation sources and modifiers and their status immunities, so this isn’t 100% reflective of what type of damage or status that can be dealt. As a reminder, always use the Help menu and the “Calc” field to properly figure out how much damage your unit can deal for accuracy.

Midlight’s Deep’s Maps Brightness Improved!

Yes, you can venture forth into the Midlight’s Deep maps (also known as Deep Dungeon from PSX FFT) against another player with some lighting! This is still a work in progress, and one of the hopeful goals in the future is to have the brightness at maximum or near it. For now, these maps are now playable in Melee mode. Note, that this change does not affect the campaign’s Midlight’s Deep maps – this solely affects Melee currently.

Campaign’s First Encounter, Orbonne Monastery – Improved

Though the Tactics League PvP Patch is designed in mind for multiplayer content, the enemies in the first story battle now have their equipment set to Random, meaning that the game will now decide the best options based on the gear’s “level.” This change was made because of feedback where people were interested in the PvP Patch but wanted to try it in the campaign, but came across the first battle’s enemies with endgame gear! As a reminder, this change is to help the prospect of playing with the PvP Patch in the story, but the patch is still not balanced for campaign, so progress at your own risk.

PvP Patch v4.0 Beta will be released on March 12, 2024. Be sure to join the Tactics League Discord for a heads start on the update and be a part of our growing community!

As part of our community mission to provide a home for multiplayer Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, we wanted to include a save that hones in on some of the game’s toughest PvE battles that you can take on with a buddy online wherever you have an internet connection and ZeroTier/PPSSPP. This supported save is included with our latest v2.5 save data update which you can read more about here.

✅Features

• All 15 Rendezvous missions unlocked (game cleared)
• This save is built similarly to how Starter is; the inventory is limited in quantity and characters have all jobs and abilities unlocked
• Ramza is listed as R-Ramza so you can track multiple Rendezvous saves within the Tactics League save data if needed

📃Important Details

• The PvP Patch must be disabled as this mode was designed with “vanilla” or original gameplay in mind
• It is highly recommended to have an original version of your FFT WotL backup ready so you can play with original text/descriptions
• Characters on the roster should not be modified, except via gear and abilities, and should retain their original Br/Fa values and stats
• Any stat changes, including EXP/JP, while in Rendezvous are reset after the mission ends
• Arithmeticks are disabled automatically in Rendezvous
• Characters that “crystalize” are not permanently removed from the party roster
• Multi-part missions, such as Brave Story, do not reset HP/MP, KO’d characters or status effects, inventory changes (such as katana breaks)

🏆Challenge and Scoring

You can always take on these missions with a friend casually, but why not add a little extra difficulty for added fun and strategy? The game’s Treasure Wheel dictates not only how many chests you get from completion but also your “Star Rating.” This Star Rating or the number of chests increases the fewer units you and your partner take on a mission together in addition to completion.

To go for a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐score:

• Ideally, both players bring no more than 1 unit each. However, this may vary from mission to mission
• Have zero party members KO’d by the time the mission ends (reviving does not penalize scoring)
• KO as many enemy characters as possible

At a later date, we are working on featuring a competitive-style Rendezvous challenge for everyone in the Tactics League Discord to participate in, so make sure to start learning these missions and prep to show your PvE prowess. If you have not already joined our Discord hop in and find a partner!

Did you know that certain weather conditions can actually affect battles? In this article, we go over how the random elements of weather can play a role in battles and how you should take advantage of it if you come across it.

What Are Weather Effects and the Ivalician Calendar

Weather effects can occur randomly on outdoor maps only and have a few positive and negative effects depending on the weather. Weather cannot stop or change once it has been started. Here are a few tidbits regarding weather depending on the mode you are playing Final Fantasy Tactics in:

● In story missions and multiplayer Rendezvous mode, each battle has its weather determined and is not randomized.
● In random battles, the weather is considered random and follows the Ivalician calendar. In multiplayer Melee mode, weather on outdoor maps is considered random and does not seem to follow the Ivalician calendar.
● Indoor maps and the Midnight Deep dungeon cannot have weather. There are also no accuracy penalties against Bow and Crossbow attacks in these locations.

Ivalician Calendar

Month	Date Range	Dry or Wet Month?
Aries	Mar. 21 - Apr. 19	Dry
Taurus	Apr. 20 - May 20	Dry
Gemini	May 21 - June 21	Wet
Cancer	June 22 - July 22	Wet
Leo	July 23 - Aug. 22	Dry
Virgo	Aug. 23 - Sep. 22	Dry
Libra	Sep. 23 - Oct. 23	Dry
Scorpio	Oct. 24 - Nov. 22	Dry
Sagittarius	Nov. 23 - Dec. 22	Wet
Capricorn	Dec. 23 - Jan. 19	Wet
Aquarius	Jan. 20 - Feb. 18	Wet
Pisces	Feb. 19 - Mar. 20	Dry

Chance for Weather (Day or Night)

Weather	Dry Month %	Wet Month %
Daytime - Clear	55	25
Night - Clear	25	5
Daytime - Rainstorm	10	15
Night - Rainstorm	5	5
Daytime - Thunderstorm	2.5	40
Night - Thunderstorm	2.5	10

Clear Weather (Indoor and Outdoor)

Weather can sometimes not occur on an outdoor map and it cannot happen at all on indoor maps. All indoor maps are treated as “clear” as well as the Midnight Deep dungeon areas.
● During night-time with clear weather, the evasion rate against Bows and Crossbow attacks is multiplied by 1.80. Note: Midnight Deep does not increase the evasion rate against Bows and Crossbows even though the area appears dark.

Rainstorms and Thunderstorms

Rainstorms and thunderstorms are both similar in nature; the game depicts them as heavy rainfall and thunderstorms add flashes occasionally to the background to indicate it as such. The following positive and negative effects occur during rainstorms and thunderstorms:
● Evasion rate against Bows and Crossbows attacks are multiplied by 1.33 (or 1.80 if at night).
● Fire-element damage is reduced by 25%.
● Lightning-element damage is increased by 25%.
● Movement through swamp tiles costs 2 Move per tile in rainstorms and 3 Move per tile in thunderstorms. These movement penalties can be ignored via Mystic’s Ignore Weather movement ability.
● Don’t be confused by light rain, it is depicted as slower-moving rainfall animations and is considered “clear” weather, causing no positive or negative effects.

Snowstorms and Light Snow

Battles that take place on snowy terrain have a chance to cause light snow or snowstorms. When either of these weather conditions occurs the following takes place:
● Snowstorms are depicted by horizontal and vertical snowfall animations and increase the damage of all ice-element attacks by 25%.
● Light snow is depicted by only vertical snowfall animations and is treated as “clear” weather.