In this next little bit we will cover the basics of combat. With the help of the following you will understand what to do and what not to do. We will cover checking, attacking, casting, tactical points, job abilities and weapon skills. The better you understand the basics the easier it will be to move onto the more advanced combat skills. The point of the following is to help get you through the first few levels. More advanced skills will be covered separately.

Picking the right monster…

The first thing you need to do is find a suitable monster for you to fight. Selecting a target isn’t hard at all. First you need to exit your current capitol city and head outside. Depending on where you started the monsters will very. You shouldn’t have to walk to far before spotting a monster. Not all the monsters you come across are going to be an easy kill. You must “Check” each monster to determine how much of a challenge they are going to put forth. The different levels are as follows

• Too Weak – These monsters will still drop items if you need them, but are not worth any experience.
• Easy Prey – Easy monsters will not give much experience but will still put up a fight.
• Decent Challenge – These monsters are the best ones to solo against. They give a decent amount of experience with out a high risk of death.
• Even Match – These monsters are very risky to take on. It’s best to leave them to small parties. Its best not to fight them solo unless you are at full health and have a fair bit of Tactical Points built up.
• Tough – These monsters are much stronger and should not be fought solo. Only take on tough monsters if you are in a party.
• Very Tough – Leave these to a balanced group. They will give good experience and will still provide a challenge for the group.
• Incredibly Tough – These are monsters are much too strong and should be left alone unless you know what you are getting into.
• Impossible to gauge – Don’t even bother. These monsters will eat you for breakfast.

In order to check a monster you must first select it. Pressing F8 will select the closest monster. You can also use the mouse to click and highlight the monster. Once the monster has the selector arrow above its head you may then perform the “check”. There are a few methods to “checking” a monster. Once the monster is selected you may press the Confirm button to bring up a menu in the lower left of the screen. This menu will have Check as the last option. Press the confirm key on the check option to check the monster. The results of the “check” are printed in the dialog box. A faster way to perform a “check” is to press Ctrl+C. The results are printed in the same location. As a you first start out you should try not to fight anything harder then a “decent challenge”.

Engaging your first monster…

We are going to cover the basics of combat here. This will teach you how to engage your very first monsters. This is not going to teach you the more advanced stages of combat. The point of this is to help you get on your feet and teach you the foundations of combat. From there you can learn the more advanced skills such as Magic Burst and Skill Chains on your own or by reading the guides dedicated to those subjects.

The first thing you want to do is make sure you are engaging a monster that is the correct level. You don’t want to attack a monster that’s going to kill you in one shot. So follow the steps above and select the correct monster. Since this you are at such a low level its bests to just get down and dirty and engage in melee combat. This is the best step to take unless you are a black mage. So let’s begin the process of engaging the selected monster. Use the directional keys to move into attack range. Attack range is within about four to six yards away from the monster. Make sure you are selecting the correct monster. The selected monster will have a small purple arrow above its head. Also listed is the name of the monster as well as his current health level. This information is located just above your own health and name in the bottom right of the screen.

Now that the monster is selected and we have confirmed it it the right monster press the Confirm button. Pressing the confirm button will bring up a small menu in the bottom left of the screen just above the log window. The first option in this menu will be the attack command. Press the confirm button over the attack option and watch as your character will draw his/her weapon. The menu in the bottem left will change, this menu is called the “Action Menu”. If your character does not draw his/her weapon then check the log window at the bottom of the screen. You may still be out of attacking range. If this is the case a will a message will appear in the log window letting you know.

Once engaged in combat your character will lock onto the monster. This means your camera is centered on the monster. Your movement is limited to pivoting around the monster and walking towards or away from the monster. You can not turn your back on a monster that you are Locked onto. The small window with the monsters name and health will also have “LOCKED” written on it in big red letters. To unlock from the monster you must press the “*” key on the number pad. While you are still engaged with the monster you will no longer be locked on. Its not recomended to unlock and run from the monster. I would recommend you stay locked on until you have more experience in battle.

Battles are slightly different with your low level black mage. Rather then attacking the monster right away you need to stand as far away as possible and cast your only spell “Stone”. This option is under Magic then Black Magic. Try to cast as many times before the monster reaches you. If you would like more information check out Magi’s Mage Guide.

The low level battle is very simple, there isn’t too much to it other then watching your character whack away at the monster. There are a few things you need to watch as the battle goes on. First you need to watch your own health and the health of the monster you are attacking. If things aren’t going well then there are a few things you can do. First, its important to remember that once your engaged in battle with a monster only you and your party can attack that monster. If you find that the monster is to hard there are two options. One option is to select “disengage” from your Action Menu. This will unlock your character from the monster and you character will put his/her weapon away. This will allow you to run from the monster, but be careful a lot of monster are fast and you may not be fast enough to run away. This will also alow others to engage the monster and stop it from chasing you. With out disengaging no one else can attack the monster. The other option is to call for help. To call for help select the “disengage” option and press the left arrow key. The option will change from “disengage” to “call for help”. Pressing confirm over the “Call for help” will send out a distress call to anyone within a certain range. This will allow others to engage your monster. However you will not receive any experience from these monsters. All this can be avoided if you try to fight monsters who return an “Even Match” or stronger response after a preforming a "check".

Once your done the battle you may receive a few things. Monsters will drop a selection of items and Gil. After each kill you will be rewarded with experience. Most players will refer to experience as XP or EXP. Most monsters will drop Gil, however not all monsters will drop it. The same applies to Items. Visit the Monster Database for a list of what monsters drop what items.

The last step is to recover your health. All White Mages and Red Mages start with a Cure spell. Casting the Cure spell on your self will restore health. All other classes will need to rest. To rest type in /heal or press Alt+H. You will see your character take a kneeling position and your Health(HP) and Mana(MP) will begin to regenerate. While this guide will not cover Job Skills its important to remember that while your recovering resting and recovering Health your Technical Points (TP) will slowly drain.

Thats should help you get on your feet and help you get a few levels under your belt. There are a lot more guide on the Final Fantasy Vault site so feel free to check them out once you feel your ready to move on.

-Yarr

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