I don’t think there are any cheese tactics per-say, the closest thing might be bringing in fewer units so there are less copies to fight in the first phase.
The general strategy I read online, and what eventually worked for me, was to use the first phase to build MP for finishers to really hit the second phase fast and hard. I also found breach a good debuff to apply on hard units to lower their defense - though I don’t actually remember if it applies to the final boss. Also the strength buff items for your units are actually very power and something I relied on later in the game. Ultimately though you just need to be careful, maybe only send one or two units in at a time to hit him so you have less terror to deal with after his turn and attrition him out if you can’t rush him in the first few turns.
This fight is actually a good example of why, despite liking turn-based strategy, I don’t think I really like trpgs/srpgs. At this point the game is clearly just an rpg with a weird battle system. If you built your units wrong or don’t have the right items and equipment you could just be screwed and no amount of ‘strategy’ can overcome it. The final battles in something like Advance Wars are hard but feel much more fair (and thus fun!)
Thanks for a taking the time to answer, but it turns out I did manage to cheese him somewhat (the credits are literally scrolling as I type). I guess that just shows how much I disrespect this entire battle, if I was going to beat him, it had to be cheap.
Basically what I did is abusing the shit out of the chariot/rewind feature to keep him paralysed.
Gildas' passing ability was reliable enough to maintain it, so I kept repositioning my units to manipulate the RNG in order to make him lose a turn. He was only able to attack when the paralysis effect wore off before one of his turn started (it happened only twice).
It was tedious and devoid of fun, but it was the only way I could think with this team.
I could see how bringing a small team to build-up MP during the 1st phase could help as you suggested, but facing the final boss without half the units you've spent this entire game playing with sounds super unsatisfying (not like my strategy gave me any satisfaction...)
I will not be touching the post-game that's for sure. I was debating whether I would play FE Engage on normal or hard, but after TO I am 100% playing it on normal, what an exhausting game that was.
It really sucks, this game has such a great reputation, I thought for sure I was going to like it considering my love TRPGs, but the whole thing leaves me with a bitter feeling of frustration (the final boss was by far the worst, but they were plenty of other maps that were more annoying than fun to play).
I hope the FF Tactics remaster won't be like that.
Hoping they do a Final Fantasy Tactics Reborn since I imagine they were able to take their learnings from this game into that one when they originally made it. Also I think I might play Final Fantasy 12 next haha.
